Dancing With Words
by kayladie
Summary: After dancing with her at Prom, Clark suddenly sees Lois in a whole new light.
1. Chapter 1

**Author:** kayladie

**Title:** Dancing With Words

**Rating:** R

**Pairing:** Clark/Lois

**Summary:** After dancing with her at Prom, Clark suddenly sees Lois in a whole new light.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own these characters and I am making no money off this work.

* * *

"You know, Lois, I was thinking since you did get all dressed up and you came here with me... you should at least get a dance out of it," Clark said and then blinked in surprise at his own words.

Had he just offered to dance with Lois? He braced himself for the scathing remark that was certain to come out of her mouth. Any second now. Instead she gave him what almost appeared to be a kind look. No, he must be reading her wrong, that was probably a look of pity, or maybe it was anticipation before the scathing remark.

"Chivalry noted, but I'm not the one you want to dance with, Clark. She is," Lois said, as she glanced towards the doors of the gym with a nod of her head.

Clark followed her gaze and breathed in sharply at the sight of Lana in a beautiful white dress, her dark hair pinned elaborately on top of her head. He turned back to Lois with an uncertain expression. Granted, he hadn't been to many dances in his high school career, but he seemed to remember from the last one that it wasn't the polite thing to do to leave the girl you came with in the lurch. Even if it was Lois, the one person in the world who annoyed him above all others.

Lois gave him what was, for her, a gentle smile. "Go," she encouraged him.

Clark returned the smile with a slightly shaky one of his own and started to move towards Lana, as he wondered what the odd feeling of reluctance in the pit of his belly meant. Ignoring it since he couldn't make any sense of it right now, he came to a halt in front of the girl of his dreams. In fact, this was the very moment he'd dreamed about for years. Clark Kent and Lana Lang, together at the senior prom. So why did he feel so damned awkward?

Swallowing his doubts, he beamed at Lana and said, "May I have this dance?"

She smiled back at him and said softly, "I thought you'd never ask."

Lana stepped into his open arms and the two of them began to move with the gentle sway of the music. She rested her head on his chest and Clark's chin touched the top of her hair. He closed his eyes and tried to fight off that vague feeling of unease. This was what he'd wanted, was it not? It should be perfect, but somehow...it wasn't.

Clark opened his eyes in surprise as Lana suddenly stiffened in his arms. Just as he was about to ask her what was wrong, she breathed a name.

"Jason."

Startled, he followed her gaze towards the doors she had walked through only minutes ago, and saw an angry Jason Teague staring at the two of them. Teague watched them for a long moment, before spinning around and stalking back out of the gym.

Lana stepped back out of Clark's arms and looked up at him apologetically. Clark didn't know what he should be feeling. As it was, it seemed to be guilt for dancing so intimately with another man's girlfriend mingled with a peculiar sense of relief.

"I should...I need to go speak with him," Lana murmured.

"Of course, I understand."

"Clark, I-" she broke off nervously, as though she wasn't certain what she wanted to say and then smiled at him tremulously. "I'll talk to you later?"

"Sure, Lana. You know where I'll be," he said, mustering a weak grin.

"Right," she said softly, lowering her gaze to the floor. Twisting her hands together in agitation, she left him in the middle of the dance floor and went after Jason.

Clark hesitated, wondering if he could pull off strolling from the dance floor casually and pretending that he hadn't just been abandoned. He coughed, silently cursed the fact that he just knew he was blushing fire-engine red. He pulled at the collar of his tuxedo with one finger, before half-turning to head for the edge of the gym.

"Hey, Smallville, looks like someone deserted you, hmm?"

Clark gritted his teeth and turned back around to look at Lois. Apparently, her brief fling with niceness was over.

"Lois," he greeted her warily. "If you must know, Lana had to go speak to, um, a friend."

"Right. A friend," Lois said, a wicked sparkle in her eyes.

Clark braced himself again for the sarcastic comments that had to be coming. Instead she surprised him once again.

"Well, since you're out here on the dance floor and I'm out here on the dance floor...and we're both wearing our Sunday best, what say we go ahead and dance?"

"Huh?" Clark stared at her as if _she _were the alien life form.

She rolled her eyes and stepped forward to grab his hands. Slapping one of them at her waist, she held the other in hers, and then put her free hand on his shoulder.

"Let's. Dance," she said.

Clark didn't have a chance to protest. Before he knew quite what was happening, they were dancing. He couldn't remember ever being this close to Lois.

Now, she was so near that he could smell the citrusy shampoo that she must have used for her hair, as well as the scent of flowery perfume. Clark closed his eyes as he subtly inhaled a bit deeper. She smelled very nice indeed. Then he almost stumbled as he realized what he was doing...he was sniffing Lois!

She turned her head to give him a hard stare.

"I wasn't aware I was going to have to _teach _you how to dance," she said sardonically.

"Ah, no, I just, um...I tripped. Shoelace or...something," he mumbled.

She grinned and gave a little shake of her head before turning to rest it back on his shoulder. Lois was tall for a woman. In her heels, she was only a few inches shorter than he was, and she fit into his embrace so neatly. Instead of his chin sitting on the top of her head as it did with most girls, it grazed her temple. For a moment, Clark was insanely tempted to plant a kiss there. He managed to resist the impulse only because he feared she might deck him if he did so.

The song ended and Clark's hand barely tightened on Lois's waist for just a moment. He didn't want to let her go. Of course, he didn't have much choice in the matter as she stepped backwards and slapped him on the shoulder with her hand.

"You're not too shabby a dancer, Smallville, minus the one little bout with two left feet," she grinned.

Clark somehow managed to smile back, still trying to restrain himself from reaching out and pulling her back into his embrace. _What the heck am I thinking? This is LOIS! _He wondered if perhaps someone had spiked the punch. He wondered if Dawn was somehow still inhabiting his body. He put the brakes on that line of thought, because it got just a little too weird. Kinda hot...but definitely weird.

"Anyway, that was fun and all, but I've had about all of the crepe paper and taffeta that I can take, so how about we hit the road?" she said. As she spoke, she grabbed him by the arm and made to pull him towards the edge of the dance floor.

It took Clark a moment to register her actual words, as he was still struggling with the fact that he'd suddenly realized that Lois Lane was a female, and an attractive one at that. Of course, if Clark Kent didn't want to be moved, there was no force on earth that could move him, even the inimitable daughter of a three-star general.

Clark wasn't being deliberately difficult, it was just that he feared his brain might be about to explode. He was frantically trying to remember all the reasons that Lois was NOT supposed to be appealing to him, but none of them seemed to be coming to mind. It was horrifying, and yet strangely thrilling at the same time.

"Kent!" Lois said as she snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Do you think you could come out of your Lana-haze long enough to give me a ride? You brung me, you gotta carry me home," she drawled.

He needed to say something, anything, or she was going to really start in on the teasing. Why was it when there was a desperate need for him to say something really smart, he invariably ended up saying something really stupid? Especially where Lois was concerned?

"Well, technically, I 'brung' Dawn, not you."

Her eyes narrowed and she turned to face him fully. She reached out to poke him forcefully on the chest with one finger.

"Look, you are extremely lucky that I didn't rip you a new one when I woke up in this hideous pink monstrosity I'm wearing, because I _know_ that all of this has to be your fault somehow. So I would suggest, if you wish to avoid severe damage to parts of your body that you'd like to use again, that you get your ass out to the truck and take. Me. Home!" The finger in his chest jabbed in time with her last three words.

Unknowingly, Lois had said the very words guaranteed to throw Clark Kent into a funk...'your fault'. He immediately went stone-faced and reached up to push her hand away from his chest.

"Sure, Lois, no problem," he said coldly.

Well, at least he wasn't thinking about kissing her anymore.

They glared at each other for another heartbeat, and then Lois turned to stomp out of the gym. Clark gave a sigh and caught his mom's gaze. He motioned to her that he was leaving and she frowned at him. He shrugged his shoulders weakly and mouthed 'Lois'. Martha smiled in understanding and waved him on. As chaperones, she and his dad would have to stay until the dance was over.

Clark was glad of that. Maybe he could be asleep by the time they got home and he wouldn't have to have the discussion they probably wanted since they saw him dancing with Lana. Sometimes it seemed his parents were a bit too involved in his life.

Perversely, Clark took his time in getting out to the parking lot, slowing his pace even more when he saw Lois sitting in the passenger seat of his dad's truck, pointedly not looking in his direction. The drive back to the farm was made in utter silence, neither of them willing to be the first one to apologize. Whether or not Lois was in the wrong, Clark was starting to feel a whole lot guilty for his actions and words on the dance floor.

She had been trying to do something nice, which was a big deal for her, especially when it came to Clark Kent. And he repaid her by making a smartass comment. The worst part of it was, the reason that he'd been so flustered was because he'd suddenly noticed Lois as a woman instead of an adversary.

As they pulled into the driveway of the Kent farm, Clark knew he had to say something to try and make it up to her. He had to hope that his usual habit of sticking his foot in his mouth would not come into play this time. The second he turned the truck off, Lois opened the passenger door and shot towards the house. Clark jumped in surprise at how quickly she moved, and then scrambled to follow her.

_Sheesh, I'm supposed to be the one with super speed_, he thought to himself in annoyance as Lois disappeared inside the house.

He banged through the kitchen door, shouting her name as he could see her about to start up the stairs. "Lois!"

She paused for barely an instant and Clark pressed his advantage, knowing that it probably wouldn't last long.

"Lois, I'm sorry!" he exclaimed quickly.

The whole room seemed to freeze as Lois slowly turned around and gave him a cool look. "What exactly are you sorry for, Smallville?" she asked calmly.

_Oh, crap! The sorry alone isn't enough? _Clark groaned inwardly. Women were entirely too complicated in his opinion.

"For, uh, for the Dawn comment. That was completely uncalled for and I didn't mean it. I was just, er, a little distracted."

That familiar sardonic grin appeared on her face and she laughed. "Oh, I know. Man, Chloe is right, when you go into Lana-land, it must be some kind of trip. What, do you get frequent flier miles for that or something?"

Clark's jaw clenched in irritation. Here he was, trying to make nice, and she had to go back to the teasing. At least he knew she wasn't mad at him anymore. But it was frustrating that everyone always assumed he was moping over Lana Lang if he got quiet for more than ten minutes. Granted, there might have been some precedent for that in the past, but really, he was over Lana.

He frowned in wonder at his own thoughts. _He was over Lana_...and he realized that it was true. The once-love-of-his-life hadn't crossed his mind since he'd started dancing with Lois. No, his thoughts had been completely occupied by the intriguing, infuriating woman right in front of him.

"See, there you go again!" Lois said with another laugh. "Tell me, is the sky still blue in your little Lana world?" she said mockingly.

Clark was so preoccupied, he almost didn't notice the little edge in her voice, and even when he did, he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. He did know that he couldn't let her get away with the continued taunting.

"For your information, I was not thinking of Lana at all," he said in a tight voice.

"Riiiiight. I'm sure you weren't."

"I wasn't!"

Okay, then, farmboy. What were you thinking about?" she challenged him.

Clark could feel his face getting warm and he knew he was blushing again. He couldn't wait for the day when his every emotion wouldn't show up on his face. Hopefully, it would be sometime in the next half-century.

As he tried to figure out what to say, his brain must've sent an insane message to his mouth, because he blurted, "You," before he really knew what he was admitting to.

Her eyebrows rose almost into her hairline and they stood there gaping at one another. Abruptly, she jerked around and started to go up the stairs again. Clark dared using a little super speed and was quickly right behind her, grabbing her gently by the elbow before she'd taken the first step.

"Lois, wait!" he said urgently. "Where are you going?"

Giving him her patented version of a death glare, Lois said, "I'm going to bed, because you have obviously lost your mind if you think I'm buying that load of BS."

Clark did his best to look affronted at her words. "It's not BS."

Lois gave an inelegant snort. "Yeah, right, Smallville! You're trying to tell me that you got a dance with your precious pink princess and you weren't still thinking of her when you were bullied into dancing with me?"

He grinned, bemused at her choice of words. "_You're_ the one who bullied me into dancing with you," he reminded her.

"Well, I never said I didn't. You needed someone to get out there and save your sorry ass from supreme embarrassment. She left you on the dance floor in the middle of a song, after all."

"You didn't have to bully me, Lois. I was quite happy to dance with you. I offered to even before Lana got there, if you recall," he said softly.

Lois looked at him as though she were trying to figure out what was going on in his head and just couldn't pin it down. Clark didn't blame her, as he wasn't exactly sure himself. She was standing on the first step of the stairs, which put them almost perfectly nose-to-nose, and he watched as awareness of how close they were standing seemed to hit her. Clark still had her arm held loosely in his hand, and her muscles tightened briefly, as though she were about to pull away from him.

Going purely on instinct, Clark loosened his grip and let his fingers glide up her arm to skim across her bare shoulder. Lois's breathing quickened and her eyes widened just a little bit. Clark was encouraged by the fact that she neither ran up the stairs nor did she try to hit him. His hand drifted up to the curve of her cheek, and he was fascinated by the shiver that radiated from her.

"Besides, I think you look much better in pink than she ever could," he whispered.

"I don't like pink," Lois whispered back, her voice dazed.

"I do. When it's on you," Clark said.

With that low murmur, he leaned forward, and wonder of wonders, so did she. The first brush of his lips against hers was lighter than air and Clark let out a small sound of surprise when she still didn't pull away. He felt her shaky breath exhaling against his mouth and, tempted beyond all reason, he leaned in further and intensified the kiss. The hand on her cheek slipped around to cup the back of her head, tilting it just so, allowing his mouth to fit perfectly over hers.

Clark's heartbeat sped up as a breathy little moan escaped her. It was wonderful, because that meant her mouth was open, and he could so easily slide his tongue inside to meet hers. Lois gasped into his mouth, and Clark feared for just a second that she'd suddenly come to her senses and pull away. All she did was grab the lapel of his tux with one hand, wrap her other arm around his neck and yank him even closer.

A muffled groan came from Clark as he slipped his arm around her waist and tugged her forward so that her body nestled snugly against his. Surely she could _feel _how aroused he was now. If she did, she didn't seem to care. She even pushed her hips into his a little, putting a deliciously agonizing pressure on his groin.

All logic and coherent thought immediately flew out of Clark's head, and the only thing worth concentrating on was how exactly he was going to get Lois out of that dress and into his bed upstairs. The groan turned into a deep growl as the hand on her waist slid down to firmly cup her rear end. They swayed on the steps, coming dangerously close to losing their balance and falling to the floor, but somehow Clark managed to keep them upright.

He started to push her backwards, intending to lead them up the stairs to his bedroom, when a sharp rapping noise knocked him, and Lois, completely out of the moment. To his horror, he clearly heard Chloe's voice calling his name from the front door.

He and Lois jerked apart and stared at each other. To Clark's dismay, Lois's expression changed from shocked to horrified. Before he could say a word to her, she turned and practically flew up the stairs and into the bedroom that she had taken over as her own, slamming the door with an ominous finality.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much everyone for the lovely reviews! Hope you enjoy this next part!**

* * *

Clark just stood there, every single one of his senses in a daze. He was thankful Chloe hadn't decided to come in the kitchen door, or it would have been awkward, to say the least. Actually, it was a lot awkward in the vicinity of his zipper right now, and rather painful, too. With a grimace, he quickly adjusted himself just before Chloe came around the corner.

"Hey, I was just calling you. Didn't you hear me?" she said with an arch look.

Was it his imagination or had she placed a little too much emphasis on the word 'hear'? She'd been dropping all kinds of weird hints like that lately, and it was making him nervous. He stared at her dumbly, still half-lost in his memory of kissing Lois.

"Hel-LO! Earth to Kent!" Chloe said with a frown, as she wiggled her fingers a couple of times in his face. "What is wrong with you? And where's Lois, I thought you gave her a ride home?"

"Lois!" God, had his voice really squeaked like that? "She...I mean we...um...Lois and I...the thing is...we sorta had a...uh...confrontation..."

Chloe frowned. "Oh, Clark, she was pretty irritated about the whole showing up in a dress thing, wasn't she? I hope you didn't give her a hard time about it."

_Not nearly as hard a time as I _wanted_ to give her, _Clark thought before he could stop himself. Once again, he tried to remember all the reasons he was supposed to dislike Lois Lane, and again, not a single one came to mind.

"Clark!" Chloe said with growing irritation.

"What?" he asked. He was getting fairly irritable himself.

"Did you do something to Lois?"

"What? What do you mean?" Clark asked, his eyes widening in panic. _Way to be subtle there, Kent, _he thought in disgust.

"Did you say something mean to her? Where is she anyway?"

"As if me saying something mean to Lois would matter, Chloe. In case you've never noticed, she's the one who always gives me a hard time." _In more ways than one tonight…oh, God, I've _got_ to get my mind out of the gutter! _"And she, uh, went to bed already. She had a headache," he lied, hoping that would prevent Chloe from wanting to talk to her tonight. Who knew what Lois might have to say about what had just happened between the two of them?

"A headache? I saw the two of you leaving the dance and she seemed fine then."

"Well, I guess it was the, um, the whole Dawn thing. I think it, er, scrambled her brains a little bit."

Chloe gave him her 'You are the world's worst liar' look. "Dawn possessed both of us, too, Clark. Do you have a headache? I don't have a headache, although my cheek is a little sore from that super slap you laid on me."

Guilt washed over Clark in a crushing wave and he gave Chloe a horrified look. "I am SO sorry about that, Chlo! You know hurting you is the last thing I'd ever want to do."

"You already apologized, Clark, you don't have to do it again. But to get back to the point, why would Lois have a headache when neither of us do?"

"Dawn was in her body longer than she was in either of us. Maybe that had something to do with it."

"Maybe…" Chloe said, still showing him her most skeptical expression. "Are you sure you're all right? You're looking just a bit pale, almost shocky."

"Well, it's been kind of a shocky night, hasn't it?" Clark said, with a weak attempt at a smile. "And you know what, I'm really kind of tired myself, so would you mind if we talked about whatever you needed to talk about tomorrow?"

"That'd be okay, I guess. I only wanted to discuss the whole 'Dawn Stiles as a body-snatcher' scenario, try to start getting preliminaries for a Torch article."

"Damn, Chloe, that couldn't have waited until tomorrow?" Clark asked irritably, thinking that he could still be kissing Lois right now if she weren't so pushy. He immediately felt guilty for his sharp words and the unkindness of his internal attitude towards his best friend.

Chloe stiffened and looked at him with hurt in her eyes.

Clark stifled a groan and said, "Chloe, I-"

"I'm so sorry to have bothered you, Mr. Kent. Maybe you'd be willing to give the press a statement at a later date when you're feeling better," she said coldly, before spinning around to stride out of the room, slamming the front door behind her.

Clark winced at the noise, and thought that he was surely developing a headache now if he hadn't had one before. _Great, now I have two apologies to make…_

With one last hesitant look up the stairs where Lois was no doubt sleeping soundly, Clark decided that it would probably be a good idea to sleep in the Fortress tonight.

* * *

When Clark woke the next morning, he wondered for just a second what he was doing in the loft. Then he remembered the disastrous ending to the prom the night before. Somehow, he'd managed to get both Lois and Chloe angry at him, and if his luck continued the way it had been lately, Lana was probably not too happy with him either. Heck, for all he knew, his mom and dad were peeved at him for something or other. Sometimes it just didn't pay to be Clark Kent.

With a groan, he pulled the pillow from under his head and smushed it onto his face. He wondered if he'd be able to get away with hiding out here until everyone forgot his very existence.

"Clark!"

Apparently not today.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm up!" he hollered back after removing the pillow. Glancing at his watch, he grimaced when he saw that he'd overslept by almost an hour. Now he'd have to rush, even with super speed, to get his morning chores done.

"I know you were up late last night, Son, but you need to get a move on now. This is still a working farm, you know!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. 'The cows won't feed themselves.' Unfortunately," Clark muttered under his breath. "I'm on it, Dad! I'll be down in a minute," he called loud enough for his father to hear him.

At least it was Saturday, which meant no school, which meant that he hopefully wouldn't have to face Chloe's wrath for two more days. Of course, that didn't mean he'd be lucky enough to be able to dodge Lois. She lived in the same house with him, after all. She was probably already hogging the shower and all the hot water.

Oh, bad idea to be thinking of Lois in the shower, he realized, especially since it made the memory of that amazing kiss slam into his brain like a runaway freight train. He wasn't altogether sure that he wanted to avoid Lois. The remembered feelings of their groping session went straight to his groin. He'd been infatuated with Lana for so long, he was a little surprised to have this intense reaction to someone else…and for it to be Lois, of all people! Still, no one could deny the girl was incredibly attractive. Clark realized he was going to have to take care of his problem before he even thought about chores.

He gave a quick scan around the farm to see where everyone was. _Dad's behind the barn, working on the tractor; Mom's in the kitchen, hopefully making breakfast; and Lois…whoa, Lois _is_ in the shower! _His problem immediately became ten times worse and hard as a rock. Clark groaned and took one long look before his conscience kicked in and he switched back to normal vision.

Gritting his teeth, he lay back down on the couch that served for his bed. At least he'd stripped down to just his boxers before he laid down last night, so there wasn't a lot of clothing to push aside, which meant that he could get this taken care of as quickly as possible. Clark couldn't imagine anything more mortifying than being caught jerking off by his mom or dad. _Now, if Lois should happen to wander in…_ And thoughts like that only helped as he brought himself to swift climax with a grunt.

He sighed as he collapsed into a relaxed heap, one hand still slowly stroking his softening cock. After giving it one final squeeze, he reached under the couch for the pack of baby wipes he had stashed there. He cleaned up his mess, and then incinerated the used wipe with his heat vision, just to get rid of all the evidence. Thankfully, he'd started keeping a couple changes of clothes in the loft, so he didn't have to worry about walking back to the house in his crumpled tuxedo, or worse, just his boxers. _Hmm, wonder if Lois would like to see me in just my boxers?_ he mused as he got dressed.

Clark managed to avoid Lois as he inhaled a quick breakfast, because he wasn't sure he wanted to face her just yet. Thoughts of the Kent's infuriating, intriguing houseguest wandered through his mind all morning as he went about his chores.

Clark feared he was becoming a bit obsessed.

Even though the idea of facing Lois over the kiss they'd shared excited Clark, he chickened out and managed to avoid being alone with her the rest of the weekend. It wasn't really that difficult as she seemed to be avoiding him as well. They'd had to face each other during mealtimes, but studiously avoided meeting each other's eye for two whole days.

Clark worried that his mom, with her mother's ESP, would know immediately that something was up between the two of them, but other than some curious looks, she didn't say anything. He thanked goodness for the short reprieve, because come Monday morning, he knew he was going to get the third degree from Chloe. That is, if she didn't freeze him out entirely.

Clark really hated having to apologize to Chloe and it was something that he seemed to have to do far too often. He didn't have a clue what he should do about Chloe. He loved her dearly, but he knew it wasn't, nor was it ever going to be, the way that she wanted him to. Clark wasn't nearly as oblivious as everyone thought he was in regards to Chloe's feelings. He was just paralyzed with fear as to what to do about the situation.

Since Pete left Smallville, Chloe was his oldest friend. Sometimes it seemed as though she was the only one who really understood him, and that was without her knowing his secret. Although, with the odd comments she'd been making lately… Clark gave a sigh of frustration, wondering why everything in his life had to be so confusing.

There was Chloe, wanting him to feel things he didn't; Lois, stirring feelings in him that he wasn't sure he wanted to have; Lana, confounding him from one moment to the next with conflicting signals; his parents, whom he loved so much and feared disappointing yet again; and Lex…

Well, Lex was a whole chapter of Clark's life unto himself. He wanted so badly to trust the enigmatic billionaire whose life he'd saved, but something kept holding Clark back. He still cared about Lex, and treasured the friendship they'd forged, as unlikely as it had been.

Clark's disappointment upon seeing how fascinated Lex really was with his secrets was devastating. They'd made some small steps towards rebuilding the friendship, but Clark still caught Lex looking at him sometimes with that almost fanatical gleam in his eyes. He worried about Lex constantly, that he was truly becoming more like Lionel every day.

The whole ordeal with the stones was just a mess. Clark didn't know what he was supposed to do about the fact that he had only one of the three. He had no idea where to look for the other two, which was probably why he tried to think about it as little as possible. Not to mention the fact that his dad had told him not to get involved with the stones at all. Of course, his _other_ father was pushing him to get very involved and find the stones immediately.

All of this weighed heavily on his mind as he stalled Monday morning to be sure that he'd miss the bus, just in case Chloe didn't drive her car for some reason. He was going to put off facing her until the last possible moment that he had to. If that made him a coward, well, call him a coward then. Sometimes he really wished he could go back to the time before his parents had told him that he was an alien. At least then he could pretend to be somewhat normal.

He made it until lunch break and then he knew he couldn't put Chloe off any longer. Lana had cornered him right after their English class and apologized prettily for running out on him on the dance floor. Clark was surprised to find himself more annoyed than upset with her. He wasn't sure if she could tell what he was thinking or not, but she did give him a quizzical look before he managed to escape.

His feet felt like they were slogging through cement as he made his way towards the Torch office. A quick x-ray of the room confirmed that she was there and alone. He was grateful for that, as Clark really didn't relish having to beg for forgiveness in front of an audience.

He poked his head around the door and watched for a moment as she sat typing away at her computer, her face frowning in concentration. Once again, he wished that he could feel for her what she felt for him. That would make one tiny part of his life easier, at least. Taking a deep breath to fortify himself, he stepped into the room.

"Hi, Chloe," he said, with a weak little wave and what he hoped was a bright smile, though he feared it was probably closer to a grimace.

She glanced up at him and simply stared. "Clark," she said, her tone as frosty as her gaze.

Oh, yeah, Clark had some major kissing up to do here.

"I, uh, I just want to say I'm sorry for being short with you the night of the prom, Chlo. I was really tired and I know that's no excuse, but you know as well as I do, that being possessed by Dawn Stiles would be enough to wear anyone down, and are _you_ feeling okay? No, er, lasting effects or anything?"

Okay, as apologies went, that was probably wasn't one of his better ones, but he hoped he'd at least got the message across. She didn't say anything for what seemed like an eternity to him.

"I'm fine, thanks. Yet somehow, I still managed to be polite even though I was quite tired at the time, too," she said, testily.

"I know, I know. I'm really sorry. But to, ah, make it up to you, I already typed up an article on what happened at the prom. I figure you've probably already got something, but maybe you can use what I wrote in your article, which is no doubt _way_ better than what I wrote," he said.

He tried the bright smile again and held out a folder with the story he'd written late Sunday night. Nothing like a little bribery – and flattery - to get yourself back in your editor's good graces.

She gave him an exasperated look, but a tiny smile curled up the corner of her mouth.

"Now you're just sounding pathetic, Clark."

"I am, I really am. But you know you want to read it anyway, if only to correct all my horrible grammar, right?"

And now he pulled out the big guns, the one thing that Chloe could never resist. The Kent puppy-dog eyes. He'd practiced this in the mirror in the boys bathroom before he came in the room, so he hoped it would work.

She melted and gave him a big Chloe grin before she reached out to snatch the folder from him, whacking his hand with it before she brought it to the desk in front of her to open it. Clark breathed a quiet sigh of relief as he realized that meant he was forgiven. He really couldn't stand to have Chloe mad at him for too long. Sometimes it seemed like she was the only real friend he had left.

Clark just sat there smiling quietly as she corrected his article, brutally ripping apart his overuse of commas, but giving him a little nudge to the ego by telling him that the overall thing wasn't too bad. The rest of the school day flew by in comparison to how the pre-apology time had crept along. Before he knew it, he was zipping towards the loft at home to do a bit of homework before getting started on his afternoon chores.

Of course, he still had Lois to face. Clark thought maybe one apology a day was enough and decided he'd put Lois off for a little bit longer. He hadn't counted on Lois herself though. Normally she would have continued to avoid him like the plague, but to his surprise, she was waiting on him in the loft. Clark took a moment to be grateful that he'd cut off the super speed at the end of the driveway.

"Ah, Lois…I, um, hadn't expected to see you here. Didn't you have the afternoon shift at the Talon today?" he stammered, his body already reacting to seeing her. He shifted as unobtrusively as he could, hoping she wouldn't notice.

She seemed to be concentrating fiercely on whatever it was she wanted to say, because she barely looked at him before she began talking.

"Look, Smallville, we need to talk about Friday night," she said, her tone deadly serious.

"Do we have to?" Clark blurted out.

She turned a disgusted glare in his direction briefly before whipping her head back around to begin what was looking to be a lecture. From LOIS, of all people! Incredibly, Clark saw that right before she'd turned her gaze away from him, her eyes had quickly flickered down his body to his crotch! She had been thinking about what happened that night just as much as he had.

Clark smirked as he listened to her blather on for a few minutes about how sometimes people read things into kisses that weren't there, how sometimes people got caught up in a moment and it didn't mean anything, not really. He thought it sounded a bit like she was more trying to convince herself than she was him.

"So, you see what I'm talking about here, Kent? This little lapse of good sense doesn't have to affect our friendship at all, as long as you realize that nothing like that is ever going to happen again, and keep your lips as far away from my lips as possible."

With that, she crossed her arms over her chest and gave a decisive nod, as though that ended the whole conversation as far as she was concerned. Well, that didn't suit Clark at all. He'd been thinking about that kiss all weekend, damn it, and he decided he wasn't going to just let it go. He was tired of all the females in his life walking all over him. It was time he stood up for himself.

"No, Lois, I don't think I see what you're talking about at all," he said calmly, and took a step towards her.

Lois was leaning back against the rail at the top of the stairs. At his response, her mouth dropped open and her arms fell slackly to her sides. That must not have been what she was expecting. Clark decided that he liked being unpredictable for once, and took another couple steps forward until he was standing right in front of her.

She leaned back a little, gaping at him in astonishment, and he leaned forward, bracing his hands on the rail on either side of her, so that she was trapped between his arms.

"Clark," she said, her voice flat. "What the hell are you doing?"

Clark's courage quailed a little, but he bolstered it back up quickly. He really had no idea where this fortitude was coming from, and briefly wondered if Lois was wearing Red K somewhere on her body, but he mentally shook himself and soldiered on.

"I think I'd like to discuss it a little bit more," he said quietly. "And by discuss, I mean I'd like to kiss you again." He gave her a lazy smile and was pleased to hear her heart rate jump.

"I don't, um, think that's a good idea," she mumbled.

"Well, I think you're wrong," he murmured, right before he leaned all the way forward and kissed her again. His mouth found hers as though there were a homing device attached to it, and Clark thought that no other kiss in the world could be as perfect as this one was.

Lois was frozen in shock for a long moment before she moaned softly and pitched towards him, wrapping both arms around his neck and yanking him closer. Clark was lost in the blissful world of Lois's kiss, his arms instinctively enfolding her and pressing her body tightly against his. It was just as good as the kiss on the kitchen stairs had been and Clark wished that it would never end.

Clark could tell the exact moment that Lois came to her senses. She stiffened in his arms and her mouth pulled away from his. Her horrified gaze held his slightly dazed one for a second and then her body shifted. It took Clark about half a second to realize that she was trying to do a judo flip on him. He decided he'd better go with it before Lois broke her hip on his unmoving body.

Clark allowed himself to be slammed flat on his back onto the wooden floor of the loft, and then lay there as Lois planted one foot on his chest and glared down at him. He just gave her a goofy grin, which seemed to infuriate her even more.

"Listen up, Kent, and listen good! There will be no more kissage between you and me. None whatsoever. I don't even want a chaste little mistletoe cheek kiss at Christmas from you, got it?"

"Why, Lois, are you trying to say that you didn't enjoy that, not even one little bit?" Clark teased. Really, he had no idea where he was digging up this sudden courage, but he decided that he definitely liked having Lois Lane off balance.

"No, I did not, Smallville! And like I said, it'd better not happen again, or I will be forced to drill you a few new holes where you didn't have any before," she growled.

"I think you're lying, Lois," Clark smirked up at her.

Her foot pressed a little harder against his chest, and if he'd been human, Clark was sure that high heel on her boot would have been pretty painful by now. Luckily, she seemed too incensed over his taunt to notice, but Clark winced a little just in case.

"And just how would you know that, _Clarkie_," she asked, stressing the nickname she knew he hated the most.

His grin turned decidedly evil as he leered at her chest. "Your nipples are hard, Lois. How'd that happen if you weren't enjoying yourself?"

Lois gasped in indignation, and finally removed her boot from his chest. She took a stumbling step backwards, wrapping one arm protectively around the nipples in question, not that it stopped him from seeing anything. Of course, she didn't realize that, but Clark was feeling very Kal-like right now…so he kept on looking.

"Clark Kent, you…you…stop looking at me like that!" she said, extremely flustered.

Clark's grin became wider as he realized that Lois had probably never been so disconcerted in the entire time he'd known her. He switched back to normal vision just in time to see her aim a kick at his side with those pointy-toed boots and he jerked away to prevent her from breaking her toe. He was laughing at the angry look on her face when she evidently decided that it was better to retreat.

She whirled around in a marvelous display of pique and stomped down the loft stairs. Just to be really annoying, Clark called out to her as she did so.

"Bye, Lois! It was nice _talking_ to you!"

A muffled shriek of outrage drifted back up to him as she continued out the barn doors. Clark remained where he was for several minutes, remembering the kiss, and grinning like a loon. Maybe there was something to be said for letting his Kal side out every now and then. He had the feeling that something very special had begun between him and Lois and he couldn't wait for the next round.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the next chapter. I should've made note of this at the beginning (but I forgot). This fic draws heavily on the episodes _Spirit, Blank, Commencement, Arrival_, and _Hidden_. It ignores the existence of _Ageless_ and_ Forever_, because, well, I despise those eps. It kinda skips over _Mortal_, cause some things in the storyline happen differently. This is, as you may have noticed, extremely AU. Hope y'all enjoy this next bit!**

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Clark very much enjoyed the next several days, as he spent most of his time sending Lois lascivious looks when no one was looking. Or what he imagined to be lascivious looks. Anyway, it really seemed to shake Lois up, which was the goal and it was fun at the same time. The couple of times she tried to call him on it, he pulled out the patented 'what the heck are you talking about?' confused Clark Kent look. He was very good at that one.

Of course, he had to be very careful when they were around Chloe, because she was way sharp about that kind of stuff. It didn't lessen his enjoyment of the game, however. And he knew that no matter how she protested or sent him nasty glares, there was a part of Lois that was enjoying their banter.

Unlike Lois, Clark had x-ray vision and he had really started to like using it…a lot.

He would sometimes let his gaze follow her after she left a room, seemingly frustrated and annoyed at a 'pass' from Clark Kent, only to see a bemused, sappy little smile on her face once she thought she was out of his sight. Clark could barely hold back his own goofy smile as he watched her in those moments. He also wondered if there was maybe a little bit of his Kal personality still inside him trying to fight its way out, because he'd gotten into the habit of sneaking a peek at her in the shower every morning.

Clark always felt terribly guilty about spying on her, but he couldn't seem to stop. He tried to limit it to just a few seconds here and there, but it was such an erotic sight to see that amazing body with water cascading over it. This morning he'd caught her pleasuring herself during her shower, and Clark had almost jumped out of his skin. Thankfully, he was in the loft where his parents couldn't hear him, because he'd jerked off so hard that he'd nearly done damage to the couch.

Some time later, Clark lounged in his hammock, halfway between waking and sleeping, thoughts of Lois drifting through his mind. He really wished he could somehow find the courage to push her a little further by actually talking to her about what was happening between the two of them. Clark wasn't quite that brave yet.

Lois, for all he felt he was beginning to know her intimately, was still something of an enigma to him. She had such strength, and was yet surprisingly vulnerable. Clark wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and protect her from the world, but he knew she wouldn't want that because of the fact that she was so strong.

Clark also realized that the intimacy of their flirtation was strictly one-sided. He knew a lot more about her than she knew about him, and Clark realized how unfair that was and held himself back. It was the same problem that he'd faced with Chloe and with Lana. The only girl that Clark had ever fully felt like himself with had been Alicia.

For all her instability at times, Alicia had understood him more deeply than anyone he'd known, including his parents. Clark allowed his feelings of regret and lost love to wash over him, before carefully pushing them back into that small corner of his heart where memories of Alicia stayed. A great sigh heaved his chest as Clark pondered whether or not he could have a relationship with Lois. Could he tell her who and what he really was? Would she be disgusted? Frightened? Excited? Would she be able to keep it to herself?

That was probably the main reason Clark hadn't revealed himself to Chloe or to Lex yet. He feared that Chloe would just see him as the story of the century, and Lex…

Well, Clark was a little too apprehensive to think on exactly what Lex would do with the information that an alien was living, breathing, and walking amongst humans on earth. Lex was sometimes far too curious to suit Clark's peace of mind. Would he want to know exactly how Clark worked, find out all the secrets inside of him?

Clark groaned and flung his arm up over his eyes. How had he even managed to get these thoughts running through his head anyway? As if everything in his life wasn't complicated enough, he really didn't need to start worrying about alien autopsies.

"Clark! You up there?"

He jerked in surprise at the sound of Chloe's voice drifting up towards him. Struggling out of the hammock, he was barely standing by the time she bounded up the steps. She greeted him with a sunny smile.

"Hey, Chloe."

"Hey, were you asleep?"

"Oh, no. No, just kinda daydreaming," he said with a bashful smile.

"Well, get your head outta the clouds, Kent, and take me to the Talon! I need my caffeine fix."

Clark was more than happy to head off towards the Talon. Lois was working the afternoon shift today, and now he had an ironclad excuse in the form of Chloe to be there so he could continue with his campaign to drive Lois Lane nuts. Chloe seemed a bit taken aback at the brightness of his smile, but she didn't say anything as the two of them piled into her VW bug and drove into town.

When they stepped into the Talon, Chloe immediately went to the counter and ordered whatever monstrosity of a coffee product that she was addicted to this week, and Clark tried to catch Lois's gaze. She was stubborn, though, and refused to meet his eye. Clark relented for the moment, and settled into listening to Chloe expound on the latest story for her Wall of Weird. He'd still make sure that Lois got at least one wicked grin before he left, though.

"Oh, my God. We've been robbed!" Lois said in disbelief. Clark looked up to see her staring dumbfounded at the empty till.

A movement in the corner of his eye had Clark turning towards the back exit of the coffee shop. If someone was going to try and make a quick getaway, Clark was pretty sure that'd be the way they'd go. He leapt up out of his chair and headed out that door, kicking in with a bit of super speed once he was out of view of the Talon's customers.

He skidded to a stop in the alleyway, scanning the area as quickly as he could. Sure enough, there was a guy climbing into a yellow truck with a definite air of nervousness about him. With a grim expression, Clark sped over to the truck and stood in front of it to block the guy's exit. The kid looked up and, when he saw Clark, blanched in shock. Clark was certain that he had the thief then.

He strode around to the driver's door and whipped it open, preparing to yank the guy out of the truck. Before he could even open his mouth, the young man suddenly pointed his hand at Clark and five strange little beams of greenish light shot out of his fingertips and hit Clark in the face.

Helplessly, Clark stumbled backwards, falling against a fence as hundreds of images flashed through his mind at lightspeed, one of top of another, each of them shimmering briefly before disappearing.

He blinked, opening his eyes in a daze as he sat there on the ground. As he was wondering how the hell he'd gotten to wherever he was, he almost didn't hear the girl speaking to him. Glancing up at her, he frowned in confusion.

"Clark? Clark, can you hear me? Are you all right?" she was saying, but that didn't make any sense to him at all, because…

"Who's Clark?" he asked.

The pretty blonde-haired girl gave him a worried look before she muttered, "Oh, boy."

Clark was him, as it turned out, and the girl – whose name he learned was Chloe – gave him an impromptu lecture on the life of Clark Kent as she drove him to a quaint yellow farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Clark looked at the house with a sense of curiosity, but there was no familiarity at all. He wondered if he should be worried about that, but for some reason, he wasn't.

Chloe was still chattering on about the things she thought he should know as they walked up to the door of the house. Clark started to knock until she told him that it was his house and he didn't need to. He shrugged his shoulders, feeling like he should disagree with her on that point, but he went to open the door anyway.

He gave it a gentle turn and the doorknob didn't move, so he pulled a little harder, and then gaped as the door came flying off the hinges in his hand and went careening off into the yard behind him. Chloe barely managed to jump back out of the way in time, and they both stared at first the door lying in the middle of the yard and then turned to gaze at the big hole where the door used to be for a moment.

"I…uh…it was stuck!" Clark stammered.

Chloe gave a wry little grin and said, "Actually, I think it was locked, but no biggie, I'm sure that's happened before."

"What?" Clark said, extremely confused, because he knew he didn't remember much right now, but that certainly didn't seem normal to him.

"Never mind, let's just find your folks."

They stepped inside the house and Chloe called out for Mr. and Mrs. Kent, but there was no answer. Chloe frowned and Clark thought she looked like she was pondering their next move. He didn't know why he was so comfortable just handing over all the responsibility to this girl who was basically a stranger to him, but something about it seemed right.

"What the hell happened to the door?"

He and Chloe turned around to see a young woman standing just inside the kitchen. Clark's eyes widened just a bit as he took in the attractive picture this newcomer made.

"Well, I-" he started to explain what had happened with the door when Chloe cut him off quickly.

"It was a freak wind! The strangest things happen around here, don't they?" she said with a nervous laugh.

Clark looked at her in confusion, before his gaze was inexorably drawn back to the girl whose name he still didn't know, but God, was she ever beautiful!

"Lois, have you seen Mr. and Mrs. Kent?" Chloe asked.

Clark's befuddled mind seized on the name…Lois! Hmm, she was at his house. Clark wondered if she was his girlfriend. Clark really, really hoped she was his girlfriend.

"They're in Metropolis for those tests that Mr. Kent had to go in for. They won't be back until tomorrow. Hello, you should remember this, Smallville!" Lois said, giving him an irritated look.

Oh, she didn't seem too fond of him. Maybe she wasn't his girlfriend after all. He watched as she walked over to the sink and poured herself a glass of water from the tap, then proceeded to drink it down in one go. Clark found himself so mesmerized by the working of her throat as she swallowed that he almost didn't hear what Chloe was saying. Weirdly, his eyes starting burning. Clark blinked a couple of times, trying to make them stop.

"Clark's had a little accident and seems to have lost his memory. Is there a number where we can-"

"What, _again_?" Lois said, coughing a little as she set the glass down on the counter and stared at Clark.

"Again, what does that mean?" he muttered.

"It means that's becoming something of a habit with you, Smallville. But hey, at least this time you have your clothes on," she smirked.

Clark gaped at her and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Chloe doing the same.

"Okay, I think that's a story that I somehow missed out on and need to hear as soon as possible," Chloe said faintly, before shaking her head in an attempt to get back on topic. "It seems that the thief who robbed the Talon this morning has some kind of memory repo powers."

"Huh, that would explain why I zoned out on about eight coffee orders before I noticed," Lois mused. "Lucky you, Smallville, to lose everything about your boring life!" Lois teased with a wicked grin.

Clark was still caught up wondering about the naked story. As intrigued and excited as Clark was at the thought of any skin-to-skin involving him and Lois, the 'again' part of her statement worried him.

"Why do you keep calling me Smallville? My name is Clark," he said, and then sent an uncertain glance at Chloe. "Isn't it?"

Chloe reached out to pat his arm comfortingly and said, "Yeah, Smallville is just Lois's nickname for you." Chloe turned to Lois. "So, is there a number where we can get in touch with Mr. and Mrs. Kent?"

"Nope, Mr. Kent has a one-way ticket on the Ambien express and will be incommunicado until tomorrow afternoon. If you want, I can take Clarkie off your hands for a while. I'll even feed that massive appetite, but if you expect anything more than PB and J, you're SOL, Smallville," Lois said with a smirk that held a touch of evil. She was still very hot, though, and he was intrigued.

Then it occurred to him that she was very comfortable in his house, almost like she lived there. Oh, God, what if she was family? What if she was his sister or his cousin, or something like that? Chloe hadn't mentioned a sister during her lecture on Clark Kent's life on the way over here. Maybe she just hadn't had a chance to get to it yet. He watched as Lois turned to open the refrigerator and turned in a panic to Chloe.

"Please, tell me I'm not related to her!" he said, a touch of desperation in his tone.

"No, that would be me. You just live with her," Chloe said wryly.

That information set Clark back a bit and a puzzled look crossed his face. "Really? We do? Are we…I mean, do the two of us…uh…you know…" he asked as he gestured between himself and Lois.

"Do the two of you what?" Chloe asked, giving him an incredulous stare.

"Do we date?" he whispered.

Chloe's expression became even more dumbfounded and she stared at him for so long, Clark feared she wasn't going to answer the question, and he really needed to know.

"Um…no. No, you don't," she finally said.

"Bummer," Clark sighed as he turned to look at Lois once more. Now she was halfway inside the refrigerator, bending over as she searched for something to eat, still chattering on about how she'd take care of 'Clarkie' for Chloe. Man, for two people who weren't dating, Lois sure had a lot of nicknames for him.

Clark started to smile and then his gaze fell on her rear end sticking out of the fridge and wow, every bit of her was really attractive. That weird burning behind his eyes started again, only this time it wasn't letting up any. He blinked desperately, feeling like his eyeballs were going to pop right out of his head.

The next thing he knew, a bizarre kind of heat had exploded from his eyes and the centerpiece on the kitchen table was on fire. He and Chloe both gasped in shock and stood there staring for a heartbeat, before Chloe reached over to the counter and grabbed a vase full of flowers. She yanked the flowers out and dumped them on the counter before pouring the water over the flames.

"What just happened?" Lois asked and Clark looked up from the table to see her staring at the mess with the same shock that he was.

"I was trying to light a candle and I missed! Wow, I really have to be more careful. Say, why don't I take Clark out to the barn and see if anything out there will jog his memory? Come on, Clark!" she said and grabbed his arm to begin pulling him towards the door, not giving Lois a chance to protest.

Extremely bewildered, Clark allowed her to drag him across the front yard to the big, red barn that was sitting adjacent to the house. He could hear Chloe mumbling under her breath and tried to listen to what she was saying.

"Premature combustion, that's one I didn't need to know about," she muttered.

They'd taken one step inside the barn when Clark decided he'd had enough. He stopped abruptly, and then felt a little guilty as Chloe gasped from almost jerking her arm out of the socket.

"Sorry," he said quietly. "But I'm a little confused here. Just what the heck are these things I can do, Chloe?"

Chloe gave a sigh and said, "Come on, let's go up to your loft and I'll try to explain it to you."

Clark followed her up some stairs and looked around curiously at the space that was obviously his, and it looked like he must spend a lot of time up here. He sat down hesitantly on the couch and looked to Chloe expectantly.

"Okay," she said, and Clark thought it looked as though she were trying to gather her courage. "Somehow, I always pictured myself on the other end of this conversation," she said with a little laugh. "Huh, maybe a demo would be easier," muttered to herself and glanced around the loft.

She walked over to a tool box that was sitting on the floor near a desk and reached in to pull out a crowbar. She handed it to Clark and he stared at her in confusion, wondering what the heck she was up to.

"Bend that," she ordered.

Clark gave her a look of disbelief. "This is steel, I can't bend this," he said.

"Trust me, Clark. Give it a shot."

Suddenly doubting his own wisdom in choosing Chloe as his guide, Clark gave a sigh, and tried to bend the heavy crowbar. He gaped in shock as it folded in his hands as easily as clay. He glanced back up at Chloe and saw her grinning widely at him.

"How…uh…" he stammered.

"There was a meteor shower in Smallville about sixteen years ago, and apparently some people were affected by it. I think you were one of those people."

"So, I'm a freak?" Clark said in horror.

"No! No, not a freak," Chloe reassured him. "You were granted gifts. Gifts that you use to help people. You're like a superhero, Clark!"

"And everyone that I know is okay with this? They're not frightened of me?"

"Well," Chloe said, and now uncertainty was showing on her so expressive face. "Not everyone knows about your abilities, Clark. It's sort of a big secret, in fact."

"What, now I'm not only a freak, I'm a liar, too?" Clark asked angrily.

"It's not lying if you're doing it to protect yourself. There are some people who would take advantage of you if they knew what you could do, Clark. You have to be careful."

Clark gave Chloe a considering look. "But you aren't one of those people are you, Chloe? I must trust you a lot."

"I'd like to think that you do, but the truth is, you didn't tell me this. A lot of it I guessed and worked out on my own," Chloe admitted.

Clark groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "Great, so not only do I lie all the time, apparently I'm not even very good at it."

"I don't know about that. You've managed to keep your powers a secret from pretty much everyone else. I just like to think that I'm smarter than the average bear," Chloe said with a smirk.

Clark looked back up at her and smiled. "I'm really glad that you're the one helping me through this, Chloe. I probably don't deserve a friend as loyal as you."

She blushed and reached out to smack him on the arm playfully, but he could tell that she was very pleased at his words. "Aw, you big goof! C'mon, let's head back to the Talon and see if we can find out something there since we came up with a big zero on your folks."

Chloe seemed anxious to sidestep Lois. Even though Clark wasn't too happy about the plan, they piled back into her VW and headed back into town. Once there, Clark managed to freak her out again when he realized he could see through things. However, she was happy that he'd found a clue in the day-pass that was under the floor mat of the Talon.

As Chloe was inspecting the pass, pondering aloud what it could mean, Clark felt someone tap him on the arm. He turned around to see a pretty girl with long dark hair and dark eyes smiling at him. He smiled nervously back at her.

"Um, hi," he said, and wondered if this was someone he was supposed to know.

"Hello, Clark," she said softly.

Oh, apparently the answer to that was _yes_, he was supposed to know her. He could feel himself blushing in embarrassment as he tried to figure out a polite way to tell her that he had no idea who she was. Before he could do that, she started talking to him, still in that soft voice.

"We haven't had a chance to talk since the dance, and well, I just wanted you to know that, while I do still have some feelings for you, I'm with Jason. And I can't be with two guys at once, Clark, as special as what we had was. It just wouldn't be right, and I'm committed to Jason, so…" She paused in this little speech and looked up at him expectantly.

Clark was mortified. What was he doing, chasing after some other guy's girl? What kind of asshole was he in his normal life? Oh, God, how to get out of this supremely uncomfortable situation…

"I..uh…I…" he stammered and then blurted out, "I lost my memory and I have no clue what your name is!"

She scrunched her nose up at him in confusion and said, "What?"

"Lana!" Chloe suddenly popped up beside him and gave the dark-haired girl that overly bright grin that Clark had learned meant she was covering for him. "Hi, Lana! I guess you hadn't heard yet, but the Talon was robbed earlier today, and the culprit seems to have the ability to steal memories away. Clark here has no recollection of anything before this morning."

"Oh, Clark. That's so awful," Lana said, sympathy pouring off her. "I'm Lana Lang. I lived next door to you up until a couple of years ago and we go to Smallville High together," she said helpfully.

"And we used to date?" Clark asked, remembering what she'd said when she'd first walked up to him. She immediately dropped her gaze and a guilty look stole over her face.

"Um, yes. 'Used to' being the operative part of that phrase," she said quietly.

"Well, I, ah, hope we're still friends anyway," Clark said awkwardly, feeling the need to just make this go away. "Say, Chloe, don't we need to get going if we're going to, er, do that thing we need to do?" he said, turning to his friend with a desperate look in his eyes.

Chloe's eyebrows raised in disbelief before she slowly nodded her head and said, "Oh, yeah, that thing." Her smile became super bright again when she looked back at Lana and she said, "We'll see you around, Lana. Got to see if we can't get the farmboy's memories back in his head where they belong." She started pulling him towards the exit as she was talking, leaving Lana behind looking extremely confused.

"If there's anything I can do to help-" Lana tried to call after them.

"Oh, we're on it, no need to worry with Kent and Sullivan handling things!" Chloe yelled back as she yanked Clark out the front door.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you, everyone, for the loverly reviews! I do appreciate your interest in this story. **

**A quick reply to Pem21: while I have never been an ardent Chloe fan, I still enjoy her character, and I can't really see writing off her friendship with Clark. I had serious issues with her behavior in S2-S3, but if Clark was able to forgive her, then I figured I could too. As for the lack of Lois in this chapter...while this _is_ a Clois story, it is even moreso a _Clark_ story. Everything is told from his POV and the story is very Clark-centric. But don't worry, she will be having a bigger role later on!**

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The two of them walked slowly back towards Chloe's car and Clark said, "That was awkward."

"No, that was just weird. I think it's the first time I've ever seen Clark Kent NOT go ga-ga over Lana Lang. The universe must be ending."

"I really liked her a lot, then?"

"Clark, you were practically obsessed with her. That telescope in your loft? I don't think it was pointed at the sky very often," Chloe said wryly.

"Wow, I'm really kind of creepy, aren't I?" Clark said, a little uncomfortable with the things he was finding out about himself. It was certainly strange to be discovering these parts of his personality from the outside rather than in.

"No, it's not that you were creepy about it…okay, maybe a teeny bit…but really, she's your first love. You've had a crush on her since before you really understood what a crush was." Chloe gave a little sigh, and Clark glanced over at her curiously.

He had a sudden horrible thought. As he was obviously the world's worst at intimate relationships, Clark feared he might have broken Chloe's heart at some point. "Did, um, did you and me ever…" he trailed off, unable to complete that sentence as she turned her intense gaze onto him.

"For about half a minute, yes, we did, Clark. But it was a long time ago, and while I admit that I may still have some…wishes, vain as they seem to be, in that direction, I'm very happy to be your friend."

"I'm really sorry if I ever did anything to hurt you, Chloe," he said sincerely.

Chloe smiled at him, and while it wasn't as bright as it normally was, it made Clark feel a little better, at least.

"It's all right, Clark. It really is. Frankly, I've kinda enjoyed watching the disaster that is your love life imploding in front of me. It's been very entertaining and a nice bit of revenge at the same time," she said with a wicked smirk. She ducked into the car, leaving Clark standing by the passenger door with a stunned look on his face.

Finally, he crammed himself into Chloe's tiny car and gave a glare at her continuing laughter. "Boy, I think I'm glad it never worked with you. Obviously, you are the evil supervillain to my superhero," he said, adding a touch of fake haughtiness to his voice, while desperately hoping she wouldn't be offended at his attempt to joke.

"Muhahahaha!" Chloe laughed in a silly imitation of a cartoon villain and Clark couldn't help laughing along with her.

"Now, Lois, on the other hand. I sure wouldn't mind her being my damsel in distress," Clark said, as his smile turned dreamy.

"Okay, what in the hell is this sudden fascination with Lois?" Chloe asked.

"What, do we really not like each other or something?" Clark asked, his disappointment showing.

"Let's just say you usually mix about as well as oil and water," Chloe scoffed.

"Well, that just proves that the real me must be an idiot, cause Lois is _hot_," Clark said fervently.

Chloe turned to look back out towards the road, a dazed expression on her face. "I think my brain just exploded from my sudden entry into the Twilight Zone," she murmured.

"Sorry," Clark said, even though he wasn't sorry for thinking that Lois was amazing, because she definitely was. But he wasn't sure if he was really making Chloe uncomfortable or not, so he attempted to change the subject. "So where are we headed now?"

"That day pass was for a local rifle range, so we're heading to the Torch and my computers, so I can try and figure out who it belongs to."

Of course, then Chloe had to explain what the Torch was, and Clark was a little sorry that he'd asked. Obviously, the school newspaper was Chloe's passion, because she went on and on and on about it. She only stopped when they pulled into the parking lot of Smallville High. He had to admit that he was intrigued by her description of her Wall of Weird. At the same time, he got the niggling feeling that there was more to his own story than just the meteor shower. Still unsure of everything, he decided not to share his doubts with Chloe. He tried very hard not to feel guilty about that.

When they got to the Torch office, Clark was surprised – and delighted – to see Lois there, sitting at one of the computers. He gave her a huge grin, which only faltered a little bit when she gave him a nervous look and then turned her attention to Chloe.

"Lois, what are you doing here?" Chloe had asked while Clark was gazing his fill at Lois.

"Well, I'm a little peeved that some twerp stole some of my memories, not to mention nearly half a day's receipts at the Talon, so I decided to come over here and do a little research. I figured you and Smallville would end up here sooner or later."

"Find anything interesting?" Chloe asked as she sat down at a computer next to Lois and immediately got to work.

"A few reports of robberies in the last couple of months where the victims seemed to zone out like I did, but no descriptions of any suspects cause no one can remember even being robbed in the first place," Lois said, with a huff of frustration.

"Clark and I had a little more luck. We went back to the Talon and found this on the floor behind the counter," Chloe said with a big grin and flashed the day pass at Lois. As her cousin took it and looked it over curiously, Chloe's fingers flew over the keyboard and she continued, "If we can figure out who that belongs to, it should give us a huge lead to the identity of our memory thief."

"Way to go, cuz. I guess Smallville's not slowing you down too much then?" Lois said as she handed the pass back to Chloe, while she smirked at an embarrassed Clark.

"Actually, Lois, Clark was the one who found the pass. He has really good eyes, you know," Chloe said with a wink in Clark's direction. Thankfully, Lois didn't see because she was still looking at Clark.

"Interesting. But not as interesting as why you keep staring at me, Smallville. What is up with you?" Lois demanded.

"I, um…" Clark stammered, befuddled at having been caught out. "That's a really nice shirt you're wearing, Lois! The color really looks good on you," he blurted.

Lois's jaw dropped and she couldn't speak for a moment, but when she found her voice, she managed to sputter, "Are you attempting to flirt with me, Smallville?" At this, Chloe looked up from her computer, her interest captured by the blushing farmboy as well.

"No?" Clark said with a wince. Then he changed his mind. He'd apparently been a liar for most of his life, but he was going to tell Lois the truth about the fact that he was extremely attracted to her. "I mean, yes. Yes, I am, Lois. I find you incredibly beautiful and I would like to get to know you better," he said with a nod.

It didn't really help his ego that both girls stared at him like he wasn't speaking English.

"Oh. My. God. He hasn't just lost his memory, he's lost his whole personality!" Lois said. "Smallville, you and I don't date. We don't get along, we don't like each other, and we're never going to date. I've only told you no about a billion times the last couple of weeks, so when is it finally gonna sink into that thick skull? No you and me, ever! The sooner you realize that, the better off you'll be."

Clark felt his shoulders droop at her emphatic words. His stomach suddenly seemed to be somewhere around his knees. How could she not feel the electricity between them? Clark certainly felt it!

"Wait, wait, wait. Hang on a minute. What do you mean, you've told him no a billion times _the last couple of weeks_? Clark only lost his memory and started perving on you today. Right?" Chloe said and stared at Lois.

"Er…" Lois said, and then _she_ was the one blushing! "Figure of speech, that's all that was."

Clark could barely keep the elated smile off his face. He knew there was something going on between the two of them! As sharply as he'd felt it when he'd first seen her in the Kent's kitchen, there had to be. Before either he or Chloe could question Lois further about her slip of the tongue, Chloe's computer beeped and their attention was drawn back to the problem that had brought them all here.

"Oh, we got something! The pass was registered to a Kevin Grady and yay, we even have his address. Let's get out there right now!"

Clark and Lois were both swept up in Chloe's enthusiasm. They allowed her to lead the way out to the parking lot, Lois determinedly avoiding Clark's gaze the entire time. He decided then and there that he wasn't going to let it go, though. Something was happening between the two of them and he'd be damned if he was going to let her just deny it. He'd just wait until he got his memory back, that was all.

The trip out to Kevin Grady's house didn't do them much good, as Kevin's dad wasn't very forthcoming. They felt a little guilty at pushing him while he was dealing with Dylan's death. When Chloe found a sticker on Mr. Grady's car from the Summerholt Institute, she seemed to think it was very significant.

Clark didn't know why Chloe's face went all grim when she confronted Mr. Grady with about Summerholt, but for some reason, just the name of that place seemed to give Clark the chills. He forgot about it as he gazed longingly after Lois when she announced that she was going to check out the back of the house.

Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to ask Chloe about Summerholt before she was telling him to run after the motorcycle he heard and the next thing Clark knew, he was standing in the middle of a field of cows. He panicked for a few minutes, because he didn't have a freaking clue as to where he was, until he remembered that he had a cell phone and Chloe's number was already programmed into it.

It took her thirty minutes to figure out where he was and to come and pick him up because Clark wasn't trying super speed again anytime soon, no way, no how. He whined a bit when he saw that she was alone, as in without Lois, but Chloe gave him a _look_ and he quickly shut up. Since he wanted to keep on at least one person's good side in the mystery that was currently his life, Clark decided to get her thoughts back in the direction of the puzzle they were trying to figure out.

"So where are we heading now?"

"To the stately mansion of one Lex Luthor, boy billionaire," she said, and Clark could definitely detect a little bitterness in her tone.

He wasn't going to touch _that_ with a ten-foot pole, but he did think he needed more of an explanation. "Any particular reason why?"

"You and he are friends, well, sort of. You're not as close as you once were, but you saved his life and the two of you were practically joined at the hip for a few years there."

This news was surprising to Clark. Not the fact that he'd saved Luthor's life, because according to Chloe, he did that sort of thing quite frequently, but that he'd be best friends with a _billionaire_. It just seemed way too bizarre to contemplate.

He said as much again as they were shown into an office in the castle. A _castle_, for crying out loud!

"Funny, it never seemed to bother you before," a cool voice said and Clark turned to see a man in his mid-twenties enter the room.

Clark tried hard not to stare at the man's completely bald head, but it was difficult. "Mr. Luthor," he said uncomfortably.

Luthor smiled at him, but Clark couldn't help noticing that it didn't seem to reach his eyes. "I think you can still call me Lex, as well, Clark." He walked over to the bar that was beside the desk and poured himself a drink before turning to face Clark and Chloe. "What brings you two here to see me?"

"Well, I explained to you about Clark's memory being lost during the Talon robbery. We've uncovered a few leads, and one of them led us to Summerholt Institute. I wondered if you still had some contacts there that we might be able to get some information from," Chloe said nervously.

Clark wondered why she was so apprehensive now, when she'd struck him as the no-nonsense, charge-ahead kind of girl from the moment he'd been reintroduced to her.

"Chloe said they did some experiments on you," Clark said. Lex turned sharp eyes on him at that statement, and Clark could feel his cheeks warming in embarrassment at his own lack of tact.

"We, um, we think that the guy who did this to Clark is undergoing some sort of treatment to have his memory wiped."

"That doesn't seem a far stretch considering the advancements they've made. I'll make a few calls and see what I can find out," Lex said.

"Right. Well, thanks for that," Chloe said, and took a step backwards towards the exit. "I guess we'll just be going then."

"Chloe, I'd like to talk to Clark alone, if I may."

"I promised that I'd get him home," Chloe said, sounding unsure.

"I think I can manage that," Lex said dryly.

"It's okay, Chlo. You've been handling Clark chaperone duties all day. I'll be all right," Clark said.

He didn't know what instinct was telling him to talk to Lex Luthor, but if he'd learned anything on this day, it was that sometimes it was a good idea to follow those instincts. Although it did make him a little nervous that Chloe felt she had to warn him to 'be careful' via his super hearing.

"I have something that I want to show you that I think might be helpful, Clark," Lex said and Clark couldn't help but be curious. So he went with Lex.

He was a little surprised – and confused – when Lex brought him to a dirty, old cave. Lex said that he and Clark were researching the cave paintings together, but that didn't seem right. Hadn't Chloe said they weren't as close friends as they'd once been? Clark wondered why Lex would lie to him and then he happened to glance at Lex's face while he was looking at one of the cave paintings, a weird hybrid of two figures with one lower body.

There was an expression of such intense longing on Lex's face that it took Clark by surprise, and then Lex looked over at him and the longing intensified for half a second until Lex realized that he was being observed. The cool mask that he'd displayed back at the castle fell back over his face.

"We're not really friends anymore, are we?" Clark asked quietly.

Lex actually looked surprised for a moment then, before he tried to bluff his way through another lie.

"Of course we are, Clark. It's just that we don't have time to see one another as often as we used to. I do run a business, and this is your senior year. We're both very busy people."

"No, I don't think so. I kept things from you, too, didn't I?" God, the lies he must have been telling from the time he learned to talk.

Lex's jaw clenched tightly and he stared at Clark with a stony expression for a long time. "Yes. Yes, you did," he finally ground out.

"I'm sorry for that," Clark whispered, and a part of him wanted desperately to tell Lex everything, all the things that Chloe knew. He wondered how much Lex had already figured out. If Chloe had managed to guess most of his secrets, then surely someone he'd been 'joined at the hip' with would have deduced them also?

"Lex, I…" Clark began and then trailed off. He couldn't shake the sense that it wouldn't be right to tell Lex anything when he himself hadn't a clue as to most of his own feelings and secrets. But as he looked uncomfortably away from the eager gleam in Lex's gaze, Clark's eyes fell on a section of the caves that he recognized from the many drawings in the loft. Maybe he could give Lex just a few little crumbs. "Hey, this wall isn't supposed to be here."

"What?" Lex said, immediately distracted from Clark's stalled confession.

"This wall," Clark said, as he moved forward to lay his hands gingerly on the stone. "There's supposed to be a room here. I remember seeing it on the drawings I have back in my loft."

Lex held his breath for so long that Clark feared he might need to give him CPR, before he finally stepped up to place his hands on the wall alongside Clark. "A room," he murmured. "Do you know how to get in there?"

"No," Clark answered honestly. Maybe he did know in his 'other' life, but he certainly had no clue at the moment.

Lex looked at him almost as intently as he had been staring at the immovable wall. For a second, Clark wondered if Lex had x-ray vision, too.

"Thank you, Clark, for sharing that with me," Lex said softly.

Clark wasn't sure how to reply to that, so he settled for saying nothing. The silence, strangely more comfortable than it was before, lasted for another couple of minutes before Lex spoke up.

"I should get you back home to your parents."

The ride back to the Kent farm was easier somehow than the ride out to the caves. Clark wondered if they'd taken many rides like this together early in their friendship. Wanting to know, Clark decided to just ask.

To his surprise, Lex grinned. Clark thought it made his face look much nicer than the cold expression he'd been wearing since he and Chloe had walked into the mansion.

"We wasted many, many hours roaring around the back roads of Smallville, Clark. I think you tried to persuade me that you were comparing different models for a school report, but in reality, you just wanted to drive really fast."

Lex's smile faded a bit as he seemed to realize that the driving was just another instance of Clark lying to him. Clark hated the fact that his untruths appeared to be determined to slap him in the face at every turn. He really wanted to go back to the ease he and Lex had felt just a few minutes ago.

"So how fast will this one go, Lex? Can you show me?" he asked, attempting to get Lex's mind off the subject of lies by trying to look mischievous.

Lex let him get away with it – Clark wondered how many times in their friendship that had been the case – and pushed the accelerator to the floor with a big grin on his face. When they finally arrived back at the Kent farm, they were both laughing and exhilarated with the speeds they'd reached. Clark thought that Lex seemed a bit wistful when he'd finally taken his leave, and promised himself that he'd be a better friend to Lex when he got his memory back.

If he ever did get his memory back. He was pondering how difficult life would be if he never remembered anything when Lois called him, frantic with worry over Chloe, who'd called saying she was going to send her a video file, and then their phone connection had been abruptly cut off. She ordered Clark to get over to the Torch right away.

Luckily Clark knew exactly how to get to Smallville High from his house so he ran to the school. When Lois gave him an odd look at how swiftly he'd shown up, Clark told her that he'd already been on his way here when she called. He then wanted to kick himself for how easily that lie had come to his lips.

Clark swore silently to himself that things were going to be different when he got his memory back. But all that was pushed to the back of his mind as he watched the video file that Chloe discovered. Someone was pretty determined that the truth about Dylan's death remain a secret. Chloe was probably in danger as she was right in the middle of this mess, and obviously didn't know when to quit.

There was only one thing to do. Clark had to find Kevin Grady. The place where his brother died seemed like a good place to start. Making his excuses to Lois, Clark ran to Audrey Clearing. This super speed thing wasn't so bad once he'd got the hang of it, he decided.

Clark could see how deeply Kevin was devastated when he realized his father was the one who'd really killed his brother, and then tried to blame it on him. It made Clark grateful for the wonderful friends and family he'd been blessed with. While he still couldn't remember his parents at the moment, Chloe had gushed about their relationship with him and how lucky he was to have them for parents.

Later, after he'd rescued Chloe and gained his memories back from Kevin, Clark was grateful that Kevin had taken away the memory of his powers from Lois. Not that he wanted to continue to lie to her, but he wanted to tell her the truth in his own time, and in his own way. He'd been completely stunned that Chloe apparently knew about his abilities, but after they'd talked, Clark was glad she'd figured it out. Well, she still didn't know he was an alien and not a meteor mutant, but Clark thought maybe that talk could come later.

It was just really nice to have someone – that wasn't one of his parents – to talk with about the things he could do. Maybe soon, he could even manage to have a talk with Lex. It had been comforting, in a way, to have their relationship go back to the way it was in the beginning, when the two of them hadn't got so caught up in secrets and lies.

When he went to bed that night, Clark felt as exhausted as if he were a normal guy. It wasn't surprising, he supposed; after all, it had been a very long day. As he drifted to sleep, the one thing that made Clark smile was that he could resume his 'battle' with Lois Lane tomorrow.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**Again, thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews! For those of you who've been patient, there's some Clark/Lois in this chapter! Also, we get to see a little of Lex, and no, he's not going to be the 'villain of the story' in this one. I love Lex too much to make him the bad guy, sorry, but I can't help it. **

* * *

Clark quickly ducked as a blue vase came flying towards his head. Wow, he'd had to use a touch of super speed to avoid that missile. As he scampered out the kitchen door, he thought ruefully to himself that he might have pushed Lois a little too hard this time. He had been unable to resist a tiny love tap to her behind when he'd entered the kitchen to see her bent over in front of the cabinet.

He didn't know what she had originally been looking for, but his mother's poor flower vase had taken the brunt of her irritation. Still, he had to smile as he recalled the outraged gasp she'd given.

"Something funny to you, Smallville?"

Clark jerked around and gulped nervously when he realized what she was holding in her hand. A bag of overripe tomatoes from his mother's garden that she had been going to throw out, but must have not had the chance to do so yet. He remembered from that damn dunk tank how accurate Lois's aim was, and it wasn't like he could use his abilities with her looking right at him.

"I was just teasing, Lois, honestly," he said, holding his hands up defensively and backing anxiously towards the barn.

Her grin turned downright evil as Lois tossed the tomato in her hand, preparing to throw it at him, aiming for his face, no doubt. Unfortunately for her, the tomatoes were _really_ overripe, and it broke apart when it hit her hand, the gooey mess sliding down her arm.

Clark bent over, his hands on his knees the only thing holding him up, he was laughing so hard. The look on her face was classic! He was laughing so hard, that he didn't hear Lois until she was right in front of him, smearing the tomato slime all over his head.

He shouted in disgust, and reached up to grab her arm, pulling it away from his hair. She was so sneaky, though, that she'd brought the whole bag with her, and reached out to smush another one right into his chest.

"Lois!" Clark screeched. "Gross!"

"I'll tell you what's gross, Smallville! This habit you have of always trying something with me! You need to cut it out," she said, as she fought against his hold on her arm, trying to get more tomato on him at the same time.

"I think you're protesting a little too much, Lois," Clark replied with a smirk.

She growled in outrage, and then Clark felt her foot slip around behind his leg. Great, she was trying to judo flip him again. Suppressing his sigh, Clark went with it. Lois jumped onto his stomach, smashing the tomatoes all over his face and chest.

Clark had just about had enough…it would take him forever to get that smell out of his nose. Before she could react, he flipped the two of them over, so that she was beneath him, but he was careful not to put his entire weight on her.

"Are you mad because I dared to touch you, or are you mad because you liked it?" he whispered, even as he pulled his head slightly to one side to dodge another tomato. He grabbed both of her hands in his and knocked the bag of tomatoes out of her reach with his elbow.

She glared up at him and twisted, trying to throw him off of her, or maybe trying to knee him in the groin. With Lois, you could never tell. She let out a brief shout of frustration when she failed to move him even one little inch. Clark could be stubborn, too, when he wanted to be.

He gave her an evil grin and she scowled at him all the more fiercely. Renewing her struggles to free herself, Lois shifted in such a way that Clark's leg slipped between hers, their hips cradling each other just so. Clark gasped as they both froze. He hadn't even realized he was half-hard, and now just that little bit of pressure had him like a rock. Lois's eyes were impossibly wide as she gazed up at him.

The sound of his parents' truck crunching over the gravel at the end of the driveway broke the stalemate. Clark didn't have a clue how long they might have stayed in that position. Who knew, maybe he would have gotten up the nerve to kiss Lois again.

They scrambled to their feet just as the truck pulled up to the house. Clark smiled as big and brightly as he could as his mom and dad got out of the truck, meanwhile praying fervently they wouldn't notice the huge bulge in his pants. The smile faltered somewhat as they both looked at him with raised brows.

"Clark, is there a reason you have tomato juice all over you?" his mother asked, calmly.

He muttered a curse under his breath as he glanced down at his ruined shirt where Lois had crushed rotten vegetables all over him. How the hell had he forgotten about that? He glanced over at Lois, who was suspiciously trying to contain her snickering. Oh, that was why…he'd been _on top_ of Lois.

"Well, Lois-"

"I didn't do anything, Mrs. Kent! Clark tripped me! I have to go clean up now," Lois said, right before she dashed into the house.

Clark glared after her retreating form. Great, now she was probably going to claim the shower first and he'd have to smell like rotting tomatoes for even longer.

"Clark, did you trip Lois on purpose?" Martha gasped, scandalized.

"What! No, of course, I didn't," he said. "I just…I mean she…well, it was an accident…" he stammered, and then his super hearing picked up the water in the shower starting, and Clark's hard-on, which had begun to diminish, suddenly perked up again. After all, Lois in the shower was one of his favorite pastimes these days. "I'm gonna go wait in the barn until Lois is done in the bathroom!" he shouted and disappeared in a flash to his sanctuary.

As he collapsed onto his couch, Clark heard his father say, "I swear, that boy is downright strange sometimes."

Clark groaned as he covered his face with his hands. His dad had no idea.

* * *

Over the next couple of weeks, Clark stepped up his campaign to wear Lois down. She, in turn, seemed to have stepped up her efforts to ignore him. Clark's mom definitely suspected something was going on, as Clark caught more than one speculative look coming his way, but she seemed to obliquely approve of Lois, since she never said anything to him.

One glorious time, Clark had almost gotten to kiss her. He'd cornered her while she was doing the dishes and had teased her until she'd turned around and he was right there, and she was so close.

He leaned in and he thought she even swayed a little closer to him, and right as both their eyes started to flutter shut…Lois punched him in the stomach, slipped under his arm and hightailed it up the stairs. Clark was so caught by surprise, he actually gasped from the force of her blow.

Clark sat on the couch in his Fortress, moping as he recalled this incident, and wondered if he was making any progress at all with Lois. Sometimes, it seemed as if she was as interested in him as he was in her, but he thought she might just be scared about getting close to someone. Then, at other times, her resistance was so furious and stubborn, Clark thought he was just getting on her nerves and being a pervy stalker.

Maybe he should just leave her alone.

The thought saddened Clark so much that a heavy sigh escaped before he realized it.

"Haven't seen you that mournful in quite a while, Clark. What's got you so down?"

Clark lifted his head in surprise to see Lex standing at the top of the stairs, looking only the slightest bit hesitant. Ever since the incident where Clark had lost his memories, he and Lex had made some tentative steps at renewing their friendship. Clark supposed he was still a bit unsure about his welcome at the Kent farm.

"Nothing, really. I was just being a broody teenager, I guess," Clark said, a wan smile on his face.

Lex gave him a smile in return, though, and walked over to sit beside Clark on the couch, but not before wiping his hand across the cushion in a vain attempt to brush away years of grime and dust.

"I think I know what your problem is," Lex said.

"You do?" Clark asked doubtfully.

"Remember what I told you a few years ago? A high school boyfriend is not a husband. Certainly, Teague is a little older and more sophisticated than Whitney was, but if you want Lana, you need to be willing to fight for her."

"What? I'm not in love with Lana anymore. I'm not sure if I ever was."

Wow. Clark had never seen Lex with his jaw hanging open like that before. He chuckled softly before reaching out to push it closed with one finger. Lex might have almost blushed, just a little.

"I am sorry if I assumed, Clark, but for the last four years, anytime I saw you all moody and moping, it was over Lana, so I just thought…"

"I know, I know, it's what everyone thinks. But I realized quite a while back that Lana is not the one for me. We just don't fit, y'know?"

"So…" Lex said, and then paused.

"So what?" Clark asked with a grin. If nothing else, teasing Lex lifted his mood a bit.

"So, are you going to tell me what had you making that terribly sad sigh when I came up the steps or not?" Lex asked, exasperated.

"I don't know if I should tell you or not, Lex. Can I trust you?" Clark asked, still teasing, but by the way Lex's whole body stiffened, he knew he'd hit a sore spot. He sighed again. "I want to trust you, Lex. You just have to give me some time, okay?" he said softly.

After a few moments, Lex nodded somewhat jerkily, and Clark relaxed a bit that the fragile truce between the two of them would hold for a while longer.

"Anyway, what has me all broody has nothing to do with, uh, other things. You were right that it is about a girl, just not Lana."

"Chloe?"

"No! No, I think I burned that bridge a long time ago, at the Spring Formal," Clark laughed ruefully. "Don't laugh, okay?"

Lex raised one eyebrow, as if asking sardonically what he could have to laugh about.

"It's Lois," Clark whispered.

Lex laughed.

"Lex, you promised not to laugh!" Clark whined.

"No, I didn't. You asked me not to, but I never said I wouldn't," Lex said with a lingering grin. "All right, all right, I'm sorry. I'll try to help," he said, upon seeing Clark's pout.

"Thanks," Clark muttered.

"I know that Ms. Lane and I don't always see eye-to-eye, but if you feel something deeper for her, then maybe I'm missing something."

"That's just the thing about Lois, Lex. Everyone gets taken in by that tough exterior, but she's really kinda vulnerable. She's been hurt by a lot, so she talks big sometimes. Not to say she's not a strong person, cause she is. She's fierce, and loyal, and funny, and smart, and of course, she's so beautiful. Man, sometimes my whole body aches just looking at her. Heck, sometimes just thinking about her is enough to drive me crazy."

"Sounds like you have it bad, my friend. What's keeping you from winning the young lady's affections?"

"Lois is! She's so…so stubborn! I've told her about a million times that I like her and that I want to go out with her, but she won't listen. Keeps telling me that 'kissage between us is not gonna happen again, Smallville'. She makes me nuts," Clark said petulantly.

"Ah, so there's been, er, kissage then?"

"Yeah," Clark said, and a beatific smile crossed his face as he recalled the few times he'd been able to lock lips with Lois Lane. The problem was, he wanted more!

Clark came back to reality by Lex snapping his fingers in front of his face. Clark glared at Lex, who merely grinned unrepentantly. Before he could give his friend grief over the teasing, Clark heard his mother calling from the barn doors.

"Clark! I've got your cap and gown for the graduation ceremony! Come down so we can make sure they fit."

Lex hung around for a few minutes more as Clark tried on his cap and gown, turning around in the front yard to give his mom proof that the fit was fine. By the time he left, Clark felt better about their newly re-established friendship. There were still a few obstacles to get around, but Clark could see himself someday being honest with Lex about some things.

Clark could hardly believe that he was graduating from high school tomorrow. In truth though, he was a little conflicted. Graduation meant being a grown-up, with grown-up responsibilities. Even though he'd been shouldering adult tasks for most of his teen years, part of him was a little sad that he wouldn't be walking through the halls of Smallville High anymore, just worried about his next class instead of thinking about careers and his future.

He felt cheered as a new thought struck him. Perhaps the reason Lois kept saying no was that she saw Clark as just a high school kid. Well, she wouldn't have that excuse after tomorrow, would she? By the time he went to bed that night, he was formulating numerous new plans to get Lois to say yes to a date with Clark Kent.

* * *

Clark had no idea what time it was when he jerked awake on the living room couch to see his parents staring at him anxiously. He frowned at the obvious worry on both their faces.

"Thank goodness, Clark! We've been trying to wake you for almost ten minutes!" his mother said, reaching out to touch his shoulder as though to reassure herself he was all right.

"What?" Clark asked, still feeling numb from the terror that had been the dream. He couldn't recall what he'd dreamed, he only knew that it had scared the hell out of him.

"You just kept yelling 'It's coming! It's coming!' over and over again. What did you see, son?" his dad asked.

"I, uh, I don't remember," Clark mumbled. He rubbed one hand across his brow and then looked at his hand in confusion. He was actually sweating! That rarely happened to him these days.

"I think we could all use a cup of hot cocoa," his mother said decisively. "Come on into the kitchen and I'll get the milk warming."

A few minutes later, Clark was wrapping his hands around a warm mug, breathing in the sweet smell of his mom's special recipe for hot chocolate, renowned throughout Lowell County. Still, even as he took a sip, Clark couldn't help but worry about what his nightmare really meant.

"I think it might have been a warning of some kind," he said softly. His parents knew what he was talking about immediately.

"It might have just been a bad dream, son. You used to have nightmares quite a bit when we first brought you home," his dad protested.

"I do remember those days, Clark. And you can't let your graduation tomorrow be spoiled by a nightmare," his mom said as she ran a caressing hand through his hair.

"Nightmare? Is that what all the fuss is about?"

The Kents looked up to see a sleepy Lois coming down the stairs. Clark couldn't help but grin at the bunny slippers she was wearing.

"Lois. Sorry we woke you," his dad said.

"No biggie. If it makes you feel any better, Smallville, I have nightmares all the time," Lois said. She reached into a cabinet to grab a mug and helped herself to a serving of hot cocoa.

"You do?" Clark asked, immediately concerned. How was that something he never knew about her?

"Sure," she said as she sat down across from him at the kitchen table. "Most of them involve this huge, ugly, troll-like beast that keeps trying to hit on me." This was said with a smirk that she quickly hid behind her mug when Clark shot her an exasperated look.

"Gosh, that's terrible, Lois," he said, flatly, not amused.

"Isn't it?" she snickered. Then she seemed to realize at the same moment that Clark did that his parents were giving them odd glances, and attempted to change the subject. "Though, I do have this recurring dream where I'm falling off a building, and some flying guy in a red cape saves me. Weird, right?"

Clark didn't know what to make of that. He still floated over his own bed sometimes, but the flying thing that he'd thought would be his next ability had never really materialized, and he was still very much earthbound at the moment. He perked up a bit at the thought that Lois's dream might be a bit prophetic and she was dreaming of being saved by him! He wasn't too keen on the idea of a red cape, though. That would just be ridiculous.

"But anyway, I guess two in the morning is as good a time as any to let you know the news. The General has recruited me for the hunt for my wayward sibling. We're leaving for Heidelberg tomorrow, well, I guess later today, really."

Clark could not believe she would just throw that information out there like it was no big deal. He gaped at her in astonishment, but to his frustration, she refused to meet his gaze.

"Oh, Lois, I'm so sorry to hear you'll be leaving us, but family is important," Martha said sympathetically.

"Kind of telling us at the last minute, though, aren't you?" Clark said, and tried not to sound accusing. He wasn't sure how well he succeeded.

"Well, you know how it is, Smallville. Sometimes things happen and people have to move on. That's just life," she said mulishly, still not looking at him.

Clark felt a rush of something that was perilously close to panic at the thought of Lois leaving. He didn't want to say anything in front of his parents; however, he swore she was not going to leave without giving him a chance to talk to her first.

To his supreme aggravation, Lois managed to avoid him for most of the next morning, and he couldn't go searching for her because his mom kept him busy getting ready for graduation. Clark really didn't see what the point was of picking out a nice suit and tie, as no one was going to be able to see it hidden under his graduation gown. When he dared to try and say this to his mother, he got a whole lot more nagging and fussing than he was comfortable with.

An hour before he was supposed to be at Smallville High for the ceremony, Clark was in his loft, trying to figure out how to make his tie look like a proper tie. He pulled one end through the knot, but it didn't look anything like Lex's ties always looked. With a huff of irritation, Clark pulled the tie off and threw it onto the couch.

He glared down at it, and considered blazing it out existence with his heat vision.

"Having a bit of trouble there, Smallville?"

Clark jerked around in surprise to see Lois standing at the top of the stairs. She'd been avoiding him all day, and now she showed up right before he had to leave? Not fair, he whined inwardly.

"Lois. I, um…" Great, he'd been wanting to talk to her all morning, planning out all the things he would say to make her change her mind about leaving Smallville. Now, words seemed to have completely deserted him.

Lois smirked at him and walked over to the couch. Clark still couldn't find any words as she looped the tie around his neck and began tying it efficiently. He could only stare down at the top of her head as she concentrated on her task. Her knuckles brushed against his chest as her hands worked, and Clark swore that he could feel it even through the fancy dress shirt.

"Should've known you had no clue how to tie a tie, Smallville. It requires skill and dexterity, and little artisanship, all of which you are completely lacking. There, I think that'll do it," she said and patted the knot with one hand. She half-turned to go back down the stairs, but Clark caught her hand.

"Don't go," he said quietly.

"We have to get going, or we're going to be late for your graduation," Lois said, a nervous laugh escaping her.

"No, I mean, _don't go_, Lois. Don't go to Europe with your dad. Please," he said softly.

She'd been avoiding his gaze the entire time since she'd walked up into the loft, even while she was fixing his tie, but now she finally looked up at him.

"Clark," she sighed, her voice filled with a kind of fond exasperation. "Why are you pushing so hard for this? Surely you can see that the two of us would never work."

He saw then that she really didn't understand how serious he was in his feelings about her. A little emboldened that she was at least listening for a change, and desperate to make her _see_, Clark reached his other hand around her back to pull her closer to him. She gasped a little in surprise, but she didn't pull away.

"Lois, what are you so scared of?"

"Everything. And nothing. And I don't know, Clark. How can you not be terrified of what's happening here?"

"So you do admit you feel something," Clark said, trying not to gloat. He felt like he was cautiously approaching a wild animal, and had to step so carefully so as not to startle her into running away…again.

"Of course I do, you idiot. That doesn't mean I'm going to give in to it if it's not a good idea."

"It could be a good idea. It could be the best idea we've ever had, but how will you know if you don't give it a chance?" Clark asked. He held her just a fraction tighter, pulling their bodies ever closer together. His head was slowly bending towards her as he tried to convince her, and he was pleased to note that she unconsciously tilted her head up to meet his. "All I'm asking for is a chance, Lois," he whispered just as his lips touched hers.

"Clark, what are you doing up there? It's time to go!" his mother called, and he could hear her footsteps starting up the stairs.

Lois jerked backwards and stared at him with big, shocked eyes, before she quickly took several steps back. Clark let her go, because what else could he do at this point? By the time his mom got up to the loft, he and Lois were separated by several respectable feet, although to Clark, it felt more like miles.

"Oh, good, you're all dressed and ready to go. I thought I was going to have to help you with that tie," Martha smiled.

"No, Lois took care of it for me," Clark said.

"Well, thank you, Lois. That was very kind of you. See, you and Clark can get along when you want to."

"Who knew?" Lois said, and she was inching her way closer to the exit.

Clark wanted to reach out and stop her, but he knew Lois would kill him if he mentioned anything about what had just happened between them to his mother.

"I'm going to go on ahead and scout us out some good seats at the graduation, Mrs. Kent. We certainly want to be able to see Smallville walk across that stage, don't we?" she said, her voice sounding distinctly brittle. She hightailed it down the stairs before Clark could think of anything to stop her.

His mother looked at him suspiciously. "Lois was acting a little strange. You two weren't up here fighting, were you?"

Clark sighed heavily, the ache in his chest feeling like it weighed a ton. "No more than usual, Mom."

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, everyone! Sorry for the couple day's delay there. Just got busy and didn't have time to get the next chapter up until now. For you huge Clois fans, unfortunately, Lois isn't in this one much, but some other things had to get moving, story-wise. I promise there's plenty of Clois action coming later, though! Thank you all for reading and I hope you like this next bit.**

* * *

Even as he lined up with the other graduates, Clark tried to spot Lois in the crowd, afraid she'd decided to cut out early to avoid another confrontation. Clark didn't intend to let her leave Smallville until he'd managed to make her understand how he felt about her.

"Hey, where's Lana?" Chloe asked, as she passed him on her way to the S's of the queue.

"What, she's not here?" Clark asked, worried. He didn't think Lana would miss her high school graduation unless it was something really important. He pondered for a moment if he should take off and look for her. He realized, though, that he couldn't disappoint his parents that way. He told himself if she wasn't here by the time the ceremony was over, he'd scout around town just to make sure she was all right.

Clark supposed he shouldn't have been surprised at their commencement being interrupted by the army warning them of another meteor shower, but he'd really hoped to have at least one milestone during his adolescence that was normal. Clark hurriedly made sure that Chloe, along with Lois, were safely away in her car. It was almost pathetic how he'd had to restrain himself from just grabbing Lois and kissing the sense right out of her. Then he zipped around Smallville looking for Lana. Frustrated and worried when he couldn't find her, Clark ran back to the farm to check on his parents.

His dad argued with him when Clark insisted that he needed to deal with the meteors, but Clark knew that this whole situation was his to take care of. He wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do, but he knew he needed to do something. Unfortunately, even though it was an unpleasant thought, Clark needed to talk to his _other_ father about this problem.

Standing in the caves as the world was threatening to come down around his ears, Clark thought at first that Jor-El was going to ignore him. When he finally did answer, Clark was more confused than ever, which wasn't far from normal for most interactions with his biological father.

As he was running back to the farm, Clark tried to figure out what Jor-El meant by one of the stones being 'stained with human blood' and how in the hell he was supposed to miraculously find the two missing stones before the meteor shower hit. He was hoping that his parents had already evacuated, but they were still there when he got back to the farm.

Clark hated upsetting his mother. He knew that neither she nor his dad wanted him to have anything to do with the stones of power, but Clark accepted the responsibility that he was the one who had to try and stop disaster from striking Smallville once again. His father surprised him by convincing his mother that this was something that Clark needed to do. Grateful to his dad for understanding, Clark prayed that he would be able to live up to the faith that Jonathan Kent had in his son.

Clark was trying to calculate which one of the players in China had actually come away with the stone, when he walked into the barn and was startled to see Lana there.

"Lana! I've been looking all over town for you. You do know that we're supposed to be evacuating, right?"

"Yes, I've heard," she said quietly, and he noticed that she was trembling and pale.

"Are you okay? I know this can't be easy on you, but there's plenty of warning this time, and most everyone's already heading out of town. You probably should be, too."

"I will be, but I had to do this first. I brought something for you. I have a feeling that it belongs with you," she said, and then unfolded a piece of cloth she was holding in her hands to reveal one of the stones.

Clark gasped in astonishment as he reached out and carefully took it from her. "Where did you get this? Is…is this blood?"

"I got it in China, and I'd really rather not talk about the rest of it. As many times as you've asked me just to trust you, Clark, I need you to just trust me now."

"Lana-" Clark started, not even certain what he was going to say.

"Clark, I just want you to know how much you've meant to me," she said, taking a step closer to him, tears welling up in her eyes.

"You're talking like we're not going to see each other again. Lana, are you in trouble? Let me help you," Clark said.

"It's being taken care of, but I just wanted to see you again. Not just to give you the stone, Clark. I wanted…I need to…" Lana said, and she began to lean in towards him as though she was going to kiss him.

Unconsciously, Clark leaned backwards before she could reach him.

"Uh…" was all that Clark could manage to say, as the moment stretched awkwardly.

"Oh," Lana said softly, and she seemed to deflate a little as she took a couple of steps backwards. "I should go."

Before Clark could protest, not that he was sure exactly what he would be protesting, Lana practically flew out of the barn. Cursing all the complications that seemed determined to make his life ever more difficult, Clark used the cloth to wipe the blood off the stone and then headed for the caves.

* * *

Clark collapsed to the floor of Lex's study, groaning in pain as the emerald glow of kryptonite washed over him. He was seriously going to have to talk with his former best friend about this fascination with the green rocks. Maybe if Lex knew that it hurt Clark, he would stop obsessing over it. Then again, Clark was still working up to trusting Lex again, so maybe letting him know his one vulnerability was a bad idea.

Either way, the only thing Clark could focus on at the moment, was how much pain he was in.

He had the third stone in his hand, but he couldn't even manage to get to his feet. Trying to move away from the vault with all the kryptonite in it only resulted in him flopping around ungracefully on the floor.

Just as he started to see the darkness creeping around the corners of his vision, Clark heard someone gasp and mutter his name, and then he felt someone grab him by the wrist and pull. Clark breathed in sharply, feeling a rush of energy throughout his body as he was yanked away from the influence of the kryptonite.

He looked up in surprise at Chloe peering down at him, and then froze when she straightened and glanced across the room at the sound of Lex saying her name. As much as he wanted to not keep any more secrets, this was not the time to get into it with Lex, not with the meteors growing closer with every second.

Keeping a careful hold on the stone, Clark super speeded out of the room. He could only hope that the fallout with Lex and Chloe wouldn't be too bad. He felt guilty leaving Chloe to face an angry Lex Luthor on her own. The fact that he'd ripped the vault door from its hinges in order to get to the stone as quickly as possible didn't make it any better, but he knew that Chloe could handle herself.

Standing in front of the table with the other two parts of the stone gleaming up at him, Clark hesitated. He had no idea what would happen when he joined all three parts together. What if it was something even worse than the meteor shower? No, he couldn't back down from trying to stop the meteors. That was a known evil and if he could stop it, he was obligated to do so.

Before he could think about it anymore, Clark pushed the final stone into the groove with the other two. He watched impassively as the cave put on a light show and the stones fused together to become one large crystal, levitating above the stone table. Grimly, Clark reached out and grabbed hold of it.

The jolt of pain that thrummed through his body took him by surprise. Clark cried out before he could stop himself. Thankfully, it only lasted a moment, and he shuddered in relief as he opened his eyes.

Everything around him was white, the snow covered hills seeming to stretch on forever. The crystal floated up out of his hand and Clark watched it spin slowly. Acting on pure instinct, he grabbed it out of the air and threw it as far as he could.

* * *

His head was already beginning to feel stuffed full, and Clark couldn't tell how long he'd been standing in one place as the symbols and images of his home world flew in front of his eyes. So much to learn! He felt uneasy, sure that he wasn't up to the task, but he was determined to do what he needed to do to stop the meteors. If that involved an incredibly long history lesson from Jor-El, well, so be it.

A different sound filtered through the elegance of the Kryptonian language, something urgent and frightened. Clark shook his head, wondering if Jor-El was now testing his concentration. The sound came again, and this time, Clark could tell it was a voice calling his name. Someone was calling for Clark and not Kal-El.

He flinched, turning his head away from the images flying around him, and they shimmered and disappeared.

"Clark!"

Clark stumbled as he jerked around, stunned beyond belief to see Lex kneeling on the floor of the crystal fortress. He could only gape in astonishment for a moment, and then he started forward as he realized Lex was crouching because he was cradling a half-frozen Chloe in his arms.

"Clark! She needs help now!"

"Lex! I don't understand. How did you…"

"I have to admit, my curiosity is strong enough to kill about a dozen cats at the moment, but right now, the important thing is that Chloe needs help," Lex said.

"But…how did you get here?" Clark blurted.

Lex grimaced and Clark could almost feel his irritation and impatience. "I would think that's something only you can answer, Clark."

"Um, I don't really know exactly how we got here either," Clark dodged the question out of habit.

Lex scowled fiercely at the non-answer. "I swear to God, Clark, if you try and pull any of that 'adrenaline' bullshit at this point, I will find a way to hurt you."

Lex's words revealed a truth that Clark had avoided facing for a long time. Lex _knew_ his secret; maybe he didn't know all the details, but there was no way that Lex didn't know about his abilities. Instead of strapping him to a lab table, Lex had done nothing but try to protect him. Granted, his methods weren't always the ones that Clark would have chosen himself, but Lex had told him once that he would do anything for his friends.

Lex had grown more and more tense waiting for Clark to answer him.

"Would you believe…you've been kidnapped by aliens?" Clark said, with a shy grin.

Lex just stared at him in disbelief for a moment, and a brilliant smile bloomed over his face. Clark felt a sense of relief at being able to be honest with his best friend at last. It was then that Clark understood that all Lex had ever really wanted from him was the truth. It was freeing to be able to be honest with Lex after all the lying Clark had done in the past.

A soft moan from Chloe brought the both of them back to the peril of her situation. Clark rushed over and dropped to his knees in front of her and Lex. He gently brushed some of the ice crystals off her face.

"Chloe? Can you hear me?"

"C-c-clark. Re-really c-c-cold," she muttered.

"We need to get her somewhere warm. Quickly," Lex said.

Clark pulled off his red jacket and wrapped it around Chloe. He pulled her towards him and picked her up as he stood, holding her as close to his body as he could.

"Kal-El! If you leave your training now, there will be consequences!" Jor-El's voice shook the Fortress.

Lex's mouth gaped open and he spun around, trying to see where the voice was coming from.

"I'm not going to let her die, Jor-El! I'll return for the training later, I promise, but I have to help Chloe!"

"The fate of the world is more important that one insignificant being, Kal-El."

"Not to me! I can save them both, and I swear I will come back!"

"Very well, but you must return before the yellow sun sets, or the penalties will be dire."

The fortress went silent as Clark turned back to Lex.

"Who the hell was that?" Lex asked hoarsely.

"That was my biological father. I have to get Chloe to safety. I can hear civilization a few hundred miles in that direction, so I'm going to head that way," Clark said with a nod.

If Lex realized how many times he'd looked completely shocked in the last few minutes, he would be mortified. Clark had to admit that it was a little satisfying to see his usually eloquent friend so at a loss for words.

"How are you not feeling the cold?" Clark asked, as the thought occurred to him.

"I have no idea. The first meteor shower gifted me with an accelerated healing factor. Perhaps that has something to do with it."

"I'm going to take Chloe first, and then I'll be back in just a few minutes to get you, okay? And Lex?" The billionaire dragged his attention away from the array of crystals that he'd been looking at. Clark grinned. "Don't touch anything."

Clark zipped away towards the town. By the time he got Chloe to the local hospital, several minutes had gone by. When Clark arrived back at the Fortress, Lex held one of the crystal cylinders and it glowed in his hand. When he looked up and saw Clark's glare, Lex hastily shoved it back into its slot.

"What? It was doing that all on its own," Lex protested.

Chloe had been half-delirious and on the verge of unconsciousness while Clark ran her to safety. Lex kept his eyes open and whooped with delight at the end of the ride.

To Clark's relief, Chloe was doing better by the time they reached her room. Lex and Chloe were both staring at him and Clark swallowed nervously before he dropped his gaze to the floor. Two people outside of his family knew his secret. It was a bit unnerving

"So are we going to talk about the super-powered elephant in the room?" Chloe said with a smirk.

"Clark, I've known you were different from day one. I knew I hit you with my car, and nothing that you ever said made me doubt that. All I ever wanted to do was to help protect you. You saved my life, and I don't take that lightly."

"Lex, you don't owe me anything," Clark protested.

"He does! We all do, Clark! How many people in Smallville, including yours truly, have you saved? You're like a superhero. I think it's awesome," Chloe said, with a grin. "Although I still don't understand how the meteors affected you so much more than all the others in town. Did you win the meteor lottery or something?"

"Um, Chloe, I'm not a meteor freak," Clark said.

"Well, I know that's not a very nice term; that's why I said 'meteor affected', you goof," Chloe teased.

"No, I wasn't changed by the meteors. I sort of…came down with them," Clark said in a rush.

He could hear Lex snickering at Chloe's drop-mouthed expression.

"Oh, stop laughing, Lex. You should have seen your face when I told you," he scolded.

"You're an alien?" Chloe squeaked. "But you look so…normal."

"Thanks," Clark said dryly. "Listen, both of you, I know you still want more answers, but the truth is, I don't really know much more about myself than you do. I'm learning this all as I go. I didn't even know I was, uh, not from this planet until after the incident on the bridge."

"Whoa," Chloe said quietly. "That's really rough."

"Now you have us to help you. I have numerous resources," Lex said with a wink at Clark. "And Chloe has a fierce determination. We will be dedicated to protecting your secret," he continued with an intense look the young woman lying in the hospital bed.

To Clark's surprise, Chloe actually blushed and looked back up at Lex from underneath demurely lowered lashes. Holy cow, were they… Yes, they were totally flirting and right in front of Clark, too!

He was trying to figure out how to remind them discreetly that they were not alone, when Chloe gasped. She suddenly reached over and grabbed the remote for the television, and turned the sound up.

"Clark, that's your house!" she said.

Clark gazed in horror at the images of the farmhouse with a big hole through the center of it. Guilt and fear pooled in his gut and his thoughts immediately turned to his parents.

"My mom and dad…I don't know if they got out after I left," he gasped.

"Don't worry about us. I can get Chloe and myself home. Get back there," Lex urged.

Clark ran faster than he ever had in his entire life as he sped towards the Fortress. At a couple of points, he thought his feet might have left the ground a little longer than normal running would allow. Maybe that flying ability would come after all. He wished he had it now. Flying back to Smallville would be faster than the teleporting device to the caves, but at the moment, it was the quickest option available.

Clark wanted to cry when he got to the farm and saw the devastation. Calling out for his parents, he wasn't sure whether to be relieved or more scared when he got no response. Using both his speed and his x-ray vision, he searched the whole farm, but found nothing.

Reigning in his frustration, Clark tried to think clearly. Okay, the damage to the house was bad, so one or both of his parents might have been hurt. The logical place for them to be was at the hospital. Clark was rushing towards Smallville Medical Center before he even finished the thought.

It was chaos at the hospital. For a moment, Clark wondered how he was going to find his parents in the bedlam.

"Clark!"

He turned and was overjoyed to see Lois moving quickly through the crowds. Clark met her halfway and, before she could say another word, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Lois stiffened in surprise for half a second, and then she started kissing him back.

Clark pushed everything else away – just for a few moments – and gloried in the bliss that was being with Lois. Eventually, though, his worry for his parents kicked back in and he reluctantly pulled away. She gave a little whimper of distress when he ended the kiss and Clark couldn't help but smile when he looked at her.

Lois's eyes were glazed, her face was flushed, and her ponytail was definitely more messy than it had been a few minutes ago.

"Wow. Uh, glad to see you, too, Smallville," she whispered.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you, Lois," he said.

Lois seemed to realize that they were still locked in a tight embrace in the middle of the hallway at Smallville Medical Center, and were even getting a few amused glances from people passing by. She took a couple of steps back, reaching one hand up to smooth her hair. Clark let her go and he was delighted to see that she didn't move too far away, at least not as far as she once would have. Maybe he was making progress at last.

However, he needed to focus on other important matters at hand.

"Do you know where my folks are?"

"Yeah, they're here. Your dad is fine. Your mom got a little banged up, but she's going to be all right, too."

"Oh, thank God," Clark said, as his body sagged with relief.

"But listen! Something even weirder than normal for this town just happened. These two crazy, super-strong people showed up here at the hospital, looking for someone named Kal-El. They knocked around a few people and they were about to seriously hurt your dad, when Lana spoke up and said she knew where this Kal-El was. Clark, she left with them! I don't know if she was telling the truth or not, but I do not have a good feeling about this at all!" Lois said anxiously.

"You're sure they said Kal-El?" Clark asked. His insides were frozen with terror at the thought of Lana being anywhere near what sounded like Kryptonians. Judging from the damage done at the hospital, they didn't sound like nice Kryptonians.

"Yes, I'm positive. And Clark, she said that Kal-El was at the Luthor mansion. What the hell is Lex up to out there now?" Lois asked in irritation.

"I'll find out. I need you to stay here with my parents. Let them know I'm all right, and I'll go get Lana out of this mess. Will you do that for me?" Clark asked. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked her right in the eyes, willing her to trust him.

"You know I'm always here if you need me, Smallville," she said, returning his gaze with equal seriousness.

Clark gave her a big smile, and couldn't resist leaning in for one more quick kiss, before he said, "Thanks, Lois."

As he made his way back to the entrance of the hospital, Clark glanced back for a last glimpse of her. She was still standing in the middle of the hallway with one hand raised to her mouth, her fingertips softly touching her lips. When she saw him looking, she glared and gave him the finger, before motioning to him to get going.

Clark laughed as he sped towards the Luthor mansion.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**And here's another chapter for ya! Thank you to everyone who's still reading and enjoying my little effort. For those of you who hoped that Clark would make it back to the Fortress on time this go-round? Um, oops? Yeah, one of my favorite eps of Smallville is _Hidden_, cause I'm a huge hurt/comfort, Torture!Clark fan, so you know I couldn't pass up the opportunity to let him get shot. (is all evil)**

**Hope y'all enjoy!**

* * *

Arriving at the mansion, Clark took in the scene with a glance: Lana was lying unconscious on the opposite side of the room; the door that he'd ripped off the vault earlier had been jammed roughly back into place; and two tall, exotic looking beings were standing in the middle of the room, staring menacingly back at him.

"I'm Kal-El. Who are you?" Clark stated, straightening his shoulders and preparing for battle.

"At last! I am Nam-Ek. This is Aethyr. We are the last survivors of Krypton. Join us, son of Jor-El, and we will make this world fall at our feet!"

"That's not going to happen. This world is mine to protect from people like you."

Nam-Ek scowled at Clark's words. The two Kryptonians shared a quick glance to each other, and Nam-Ek nodded at his companion. Aethyr stepped forward, pulling a bracelet off her wrist.

"If you refuse to join us, Kal-El, we will make certain that you cannot interfere," she said.

She threw the bracelet towards him, and Clark instinctively twisted out of the way, turning to follow its path with his eyes. It whirred past his chest. A few feet beyond him, it expanded, becoming a gaping vortex that threatened to pull him into it. Stunned, Clark stared into the whirling morass, perhaps for a moment longer than he should have.

Clark gasped as something hit him square in the back, sending him tumbling towards the gateway. Desperately, he punched a hole into the floor, searching for anything he could grab onto to stop his slide. He found a piece of rebar and grabbed hold. The breath was knocked out of him as his body jerked around and came to a sudden stop.

Clark's feet were at the entrance of the vortex, and they felt strange, almost tingly. He tried to pull himself forward, but he could feel his grip slipping; one finger slid off, then another, and another, until he was holding himself on Earth with only one digit.

"You'll be unable to stop us from the Phantom Zone, Kal-El," Aethyr said smugly.

They turned away, and Clark heard Nam-Ek murmur, "It is done."

Clark had no idea what this Phantom Zone the Kryptonians were talking about was, but, it didn't sound like a pleasant place. He did not intend to leave these two monsters to wreak havoc on his adopted planet. With one last burst of energy, he got his fist around the rebar more firmly and pulled with every bit of strength that he had.

He surged forward, grabbed Aethyr by the shoulder, and threw her behind him, straight into the opening. Nam-Ek whirled around with an astonished look on his face, as he watched his partner disappear into the void. Clark used his distraction to get on the other side of his foe. When Nam-Ek turned around, he didn't have time to do anything but fall backwards at the push of Clark's hand.

The vortex collapsed onto itself and Clark watched as a flat rectangular object spun slowly in its place. He could see an image of the two Kryptonians as though they were pressed against the glass of a window, screaming their discontent. The rectangle moved slowly forward, and then picked up speed. It shattered the stained glass window in Lex's study and quickly shot out of sight.

Clark's gaze stayed trained on its path for a moment, and then he noticed the sun slipping towards the horizon. Recalling Jor-El's words about the consequences of returning on time, Clark knew he was going to be in trouble. He glanced over to where Lana still lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. It didn't matter what punishment his father decided to inflict, there was no way that Clark was not going to take care of Lana.

She stirred as he lifted her out of the debris of the glass cabinet she had crashed into. He moved to the center of the room and laid her carefully on the floor. Lana opened her eyes and looked at him, and then she gasped. Her gaze darted fearfully around the room.

"They're gone. You're safe," Clark reassured her.

She closed her eyes for a moment, as her body relaxed in relief. When she looked at him again, Lana tried to smile. "You saved me again, Clark Kent," she said shakily.

Clark reached up to brush some of the broken glass out of her hair, and was startled by a sharp twinge of pain. The blood on his finger was so foreign; it took him a second to understand what had happened.

"What can I say? It's a habit," he said, consciously pushing the problem of his apparently human state out of his mind. "I'm going to get you to the hospital, okay?"

* * *

His mother and father pulled up in the truck as Clark was tossing some broken chairs into a waste bin. His mom gasped in dismay at seeing the house with a huge hole through the center of it.

"Oh, Jonathan!" she said.

"We can rebuild a house, Martha. Thankfully our family is safe and together. Heck, I'm sure Clark can fix it up better than it was in no time."

Clark winced as he heard his father's words. "Afraid I can't, Dad," he said as he walked over to give them both a big hug. "My abilities are gone. Jor-El took them away. I think he's done with me."

"I have a hard time believing that after all he's put you through, Clark," Jonathan said.

Clark shrugged. "There's not a lot I can do. I've tried to use the octagonal disk in the caves and it doesn't respond to me anymore. I guess I'm just a regular human guy."

"But that means you can be hurt!" Martha said worriedly.

"So can you and dad, and you've never let that stop you," Clark said with a grin.

"How do you feel about this, Son?" Jonathan asked.

"I'm not sure. Part of me has always wanted to be normal, and now I am. On the other hand, I've always felt responsible for the town of Smallville. I sure can't do much to help them like this."

"I've always thought that you took on that responsibility unjustly, Clark. The first meteor shower was not your fault, and neither was this one," his mother scolded.

Clark didn't answer that accusation, as he knew he'd always feel a sense of responsibility for the tragedies of Smallville.

"Um, one more thing," Clark said, nervously, "Lex and Chloe kinda know the secret."

"What! Are you nuts, Clark? How could you let Luthor know about you? That's so incredibly dangerous. I can't even…" Jonathan spluttered.

"Look, when I put the three stones together, they formed this crystal. The caves became some kind of teleporting device and I suddenly found myself in the Arctic. The crystal made this huge fortress, and Jor-El's consciousness, or whatever he is, was there. He started teaching me all about Krypton. I heard a voice, and when I looked around Chloe and Lex were there! They were in the caves at the same time I was and somehow got pulled along with me. What was I supposed to do at that point but 'fess up?"

"I just don't see this being a good thing, Clark," Jonathan said. "Luthor's always been a little too interested in your secrets."

"His name is Lex, and there is no secret anymore, is there?" Clark said. "Look, I know you both only have my best interests at heart, but the thing is, I trust Lex, and I trust Chloe, too. Both of them have been there for me more times than I can count. And yeah, Lex and I have had our differences, but we've worked them out, mostly, and he only wants to do whatever he can to help me. Course, I'm gonna have to go and tell them that I'm human now."

"You still need to be careful," Jonathan said stubbornly.

"I will be, Dad. I promise," Clark said, agreeing in the hope that it would just let the argument die.

The sound of a car turning into their driveway derailed the discussion. It was a military vehicle, and Clark worried that this would be bad news. The jeep pulled up behind the Kent truck and sat there for a moment.

Then the door opened, and Lois jumped out. She slammed the door and pounded on it with the palm of her hand a couple of times.

"Thanks for the lift, Charlie!"

"No problem, Ms. Lane. But if the General asks, I had nothing to do with this," the man inside the jeep called back.

"I'll deal with him later, no worries," Lois replied. She waved as the jeep backed out of the driveway and drove away.

Lois turned around and headed toward the Kents, who were all staring at her in shock.

"Lois, I thought you were on your way to Metropolis to meet your father," Martha said.

"Here's the thing, Mrs. Kent. Right now, you and Mr. Kent and Clark," she said, cutting her eyes to Clark and away again so quickly, he thought he might have imagined it, "have been more like a family to me than my own family. Lucy certainly doesn't need me right now. But you guys do, and I want to help you fix this mess," she said, waving one hand towards the house.

"Well, of course you're more than welcome to stay and help out," Jonathan said.

"Of course!" Martha agreed. "You're a part of this family, too," she added and opened her arms to welcome Lois with a hug.

"Thanks, Mrs. K, that means a lot," Lois said, with a small sniffle. "Do you two mind if I speak with Smallville alone for a minute?"

Clark felt his heart jump. She wanted to talk to him alone! Then, his heart dropped as he considered whether this was a good thing or not. Maybe she just wanted to tell him to stop bothering her.

"Sure. Why don't you two go check out the barn and see what the damage looks like there?" Martha suggested.

Clark followed Lois to the barn, trying to be good and keep his eyes off her rear end, but when she turned her head and glared at him, he knew she had caught him. He just grinned at her unrepentantly. It felt good, _normal_ in a way, to be back playing the games they'd been playing for the last couple of months.

The damage to the barn wasn't as extensive as the damage to the house as it had not taken a direct hit. There was still a lot of work to do all over the Kent farm. Clark and Lois walked up to his loft and sat down side by side on the couch.

She didn't speak at first, and Clark wondered if she expected him to start the conversation. He was just wondering how to do that when Lois broke her silence.

"I like you. I like you a lot, okay? But I'm still not sure about this…this…whatever it is with you and me," she said, gesturing with one hand between them, still staring straight ahead at the wall.

"I like you a lot, too, Lois. Who says we can't just take it nice and slow?" Clark said. He was dying to reach out and touch her, but she was so jittery, he was worried it would make her run again.

She took a deep breath and turned to look at him. "I don't know what I'm feeling here, Clark. All I know is that when I thought you might have been hurt or killed in the meteor shower, a part of me wanted to shrivel up and die. I don't like the thought of you not being in my life, as hard as that is for me to admit."

"Okay, then why don't we…" Clark said, and he reached out for her, taking her hand in his and gently pulling, hoping to get her to come to him. To his great delight, she did, sliding closer to him and letting him wrap one arm around her shoulder. "…take it one day at a time and see what happens?"

"I guess we could try that," she murmured.

"I think we need a kiss to seal the deal," Clark said, and grinned when she gave him an exasperated look.

"I'm not sure that counts as taking things slowly."

"Sure it does. Just. One. Kiss," Clark whispered as he lowered his head towards hers.

The first touch of his mouth to hers was electrifying. It was slow and sweet, unlike the frantic relief of the kiss in the hospital, but just as amazing. Then it began to get more intense. Clark deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue in to meet hers. He groaned as he pulled her more tightly against him, wanting her as close as she could possibly be.

The next thing Clark knew, Lois was straddling his lap, and they were making out in earnest: hands wandering, hips grinding, breath quickening. His hands were under her shirt, stroking up and down the length of her back. It was when they started to move around to the front, that Lois called a halt to things. She pulled away from the kiss and put her hands on his, holding them in place at her sides.

"I think that went a little beyond slow," she said breathlessly.

"Yeah, maybe," Clark agreed. "Sorry. It's just that you're so incredible, Lois."

"You're pretty awesome yourself, Smallville, but I think we'd better work on our self-control."

"Clark! Lois! We're heading into town for dinner! Do you two want to go with us?" his mother's voice called from the yard.

They both startled, suddenly remembering that they weren't exactly alone. Lois scrambled off his lap and stood up, adjusting her clothing, and running her hands over her hair.

"There's a reality check, huh?" she said, her grin a little shaky.

"Clark? Are you still up there?" Martha called again and Clark realized he hadn't answered her.

"Yeah, Mom! We'll be right down!"

"I think we should keep this, uh, stuff just between us for now, don't you? I mean, I don't want your mom to think any less of me," Lois said.

"My mom already loves you, Lois. I don't think the fact that you're dating her son would make her think any less of you," Clark said.

She smiled at him, grateful for his words. "Still, I'd just rather we kept it quiet for now. Can we do that?"

"Whatever you need, I can do," he promised and was pleased to see that it made her blush.

Still, even knowing that it was supposed to be a secret, there was no power on earth that could have dimmed his smile as they walked down to join his parents for dinner.

* * *

Lex called a couple of days later to let Clark know that he and Chloe were safely back from the Yukon. Clark finished a few chores around the farm and then climbed into the truck to head over to the mansion. As he pulled into the driveway, he saw that Lex already had people working on the damage to the castle.

Whistling a little tune, Clark walked down the hall to Lex's study, where the guy who'd answered the front door had said Lex would be. It was weird waiting to be let in by Lex's people instead of just zipping by them as he usually did.

"Lex, I'm afraid I have-" Clark said as he pushed the doors open. Upon seeing what was going on in there, he let out a startled "Whoa!" and quickly turned back around to face the doors.

"Ever hear of knocking, Clark?" Lex said sardonically, and he heard Chloe giggle. He only hoped she was getting off Lex's lap and putting her shirt back on.

"Uh, you invited me over, Lex. Ever hear of 'There's a time and a place for everything'?" Clark said, and peeked over his shoulder.

Thankfully, the two of them were no longer locked in a passionate clinch and were standing there completely dressed. Clark turned back around and looked at the two of them, eyebrows raised in question.

"When, exactly, did this happen?"

"We spent quite a bit of time talking in the Yukon and on the plane home. We discovered we have a lot of things in common, don't we, Lex?" Chloe said with a sly smile.

"That we do, Miss Sullivan," Lex said as he leered back at her.

"Ooh, I love it when you call me that," Chloe said, and stepped closer to Lex to give him a lingering kiss.

"Okay! Third person in the room!" Clark said, as he put a hand over his eyes.

"All right, you prude," Chloe said.

When Clark looked, they were separated once again. Clark moved to sit down on the couch, and then thinking about what had just been happening there, sat in one of the chairs instead.

Lex smirked at him, and he and Chloe sat back down on the couch where they'd been. They didn't start kissing again, but Chloe did snuggle up comfortably against his side. Lex indulged her by putting an arm around her.

"That looks so weird," Clark muttered.

"No weirder than you and Lois," Chloe retorted. Then she bit her lip. "Oops, I don't know if your crush was still supposed to be a secret or not."

"I already knew. Clark confessed his undying love for Ms. Lane to me the other week," Lex teased.

"I did not!" Clark said. "Okay, maybe I did," he amended at Lex's knowing look.

"And how are things with you and Ms. Lane going?"

"Will you stop calling her that?" Clark asked, exasperated. He didn't understand why Lex and Lois had this insistent dislike of each other.

"It's her name, isn't it?" Lex said with an elegant shrug.

"Yeah, but the way you say it, it sounds so…snooty."

"Snooty? Clark, I thought I'd worked on your vocabulary better than that," Chloe said with a laugh.

"What can I say? I'm a hopeless case, obviously."

"So, how are things between you and my dear cousin? I heard that Uncle Sam was furious that she'd decided to stay in Smallville rather than go look for Lucy."

"Yeah, he gave her a really blistering lecture on the phone. He was yelling so loud, she couldn't even hold it up to her ear," Clark said, feeling a little guilty that Lois and her father were on the outs because of him. Still, he couldn't help but be thrilled that she had stayed.

"Uncle Sam has a really quick temper, but he usually comes around. Personally, I'm glad Lois isn't off chasing Lucy. She did far too much running after her sister when they were younger, if you ask me," Chloe said.

"I'm glad she decided to stay, too," Clark grinned. "As for the two of us, let's just say I'm making some progress and leave it at that."

"Hmm, something tells me the farmboy has traded in one secret for another. So mysterious," Lex said.

"Er, yeah, about that other secret? Well, the one that used to be a secret, I mean?" Clark said. "There's really not too much to protect anymore."

"What do you mean?" Chloe asked.

"Jor-El took away my powers. I'm human now."

"I assume he had a reason for punishing you in that manner?" Lex asked.

"I had to save Lana from those two evil Kryptonians, and I couldn't make it back to the Fortress before sunset. So he's punishing me, I guess," Clark said with a shrug.

"Well, all I can say to that is you've got terrible timing, Clark Kent! Lex and I were so prepared to be the mastermind and sidekick, respectively, behind your brawn, and how are we going to do that when you don't have the juice?" Chloe said. She sat up and put her hands on her hips in mock irritation.

Clark couldn't help but laugh a little at her pretend pique as he said, "Sorry?"

"It would be interesting to run some tests on you now, though. Supposedly, your alien physiology hasn't changed; you're just no longer super-powered," Lex mused.

Clark felt a tremor of alarm at Lex's words. "Uh, not so crazy about the idea of being a lab rat, Lex," he said nervously.

"Don't worry; it'd be nothing more than what the average human goes through at a physical, Clark. From what Chloe's told me, your skin has always been impervious to needle pricks before, so this could be an opportunity to give us some insight into what makes you tick."

Clark was still a bit uncertain, but Lex looked so excited, and at least it didn't seem to be an 'I want to lock you in my secret dungeon lab and experiment on you' excited. He consented to Lex running a few tests, but they all agreed this was probably best kept between the three of them, and away from his parents.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**Aaaaand here's the reason this story is rated M. The smut is about to commence! Hope y'all enjoy!**

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Clark tried to get used to being without his abilities. It was more difficult than he'd thought it would be. For one thing, his chores took _forever_. Rebuilding their house, and helping neighbors rebuild also, was hot, exhausting work.

As for the secret relationship with Lois, half the time, Clark was too damn tired to attempt to steal a few kisses. Plus, Lois quickly disabused him of the notion that just because they were now in a relationship, things were going to be easy.

They argued more now than they ever had.

Clark thought that it was all sexual tension, but the one time he semi-joked that they should resolve it, she gave him the cold shoulder for the rest of the day. They kissed and made out, but the furthest they had gotten was shirts off. Clark seriously thought that 'slow' might kill him.

His parents were bunking with the Rosses until they could get the house to a habitable state. Lois was staying with Chloe, Lana and her dad, and Clark was dividing his time between Lex's and just sleeping in the loft. They usually had some alone time in the evenings after his mom and dad had called it quits for the day.

On this particular night, Clark was sitting on the couch with Lois in his lap. She seemed to like this position for petting the best. Clark thought it was probably because she was more in control of things, and he was quite willing to go along with that.

He'd coaxed her into taking her top off again, and his own shirt had been discarded as well. His fingers played with the snap of her bra, silently asking permission for more. They were kissing deeply, and he could feel Lois practically squirming with indecision about the bra.

"Lois. Please, Lois. I just want to touch you so bad," he whispered against her lips.

"Okay. Okay, go ahead," she replied shakily.

The snap to her bra was undone and the offending garment on the floor in less than two seconds. Clark stared at her in awe for a few moments, until finally Lois ducked her head nervously. He looked up at her face, saw the uncertainty there, and smiled at her.

"Oh, Lois, you're so beautiful," he said reverently. It was not the most original line, to be sure, but it was so true. She was absolutely stunning.

He touched her gently, his thumbs rubbing across her nipples. They instantly peaked, and Lois gasped, closed her eyes and arched towards him. Clark could resist no longer. He leaned forward and laved one nipple with his tongue, then sucked it into his mouth.

"Claarrrrrk," she groaned, and her hands came up to grasp the back of his head, pulling at his hair impatiently.

"Oh, my!"

It was like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over the two of them; they both froze. Clark raised his head and stared over Lois's shoulder in disbelief at a wide-eyed Lana standing at the top of the stairs. He hastily reached over and grabbed the first piece of clothing he could find, which happened to be his shirt, and handed it to Lois.

She pulled it jerkily over her head and moved off his lap to sit on the other end of the couch. Clark had the feeling she would have tried to leave, if Lana wasn't blocking the only exit. As it was, Lois refused to look at either him or Lana.

"Uh, Lana, we really weren't expecting company tonight," Clark said awkwardly.

"Yeah, I can see that. I'm, ah, sorry for interrupting," she said quietly, still seeming stunned.

When she didn't say anything else, and didn't seem to be making any move to leave, Clark grew annoyed.

"So, was there a reason you came by?" he prompted.

"I…well, I wanted to talk to you, but it…I mean, you know that Jason was killed during the meteor shower, so I had been kind of hoping…and then you saved me from those evil alien people…but I guess it's kind of too late now…"

Clark tried to make sense of that rambling speech, and the only thing he could come up with was that Lana had lost Jason, so she was looking for a replacement boyfriend. Maybe that assessment was a little harsh, but it appeared to him to be what she was thinking.

"Lois and I are together now," Clark said bluntly, just to make certain she got the point.

"I see," she said faintly. "When did that happen?"

"It's been a few weeks. We've been keeping it quiet, what with all the rebuilding and meteor stuff going on," he said. He glanced over at Lois, and found her looking back at him with a thoughtful expression. Clark wasn't sure what that meant, so he looked back at Lana. He hoped she would get the hint soon, and leave.

Lana must have read something in his stare, because she shook her head slightly and half-turned towards the stairs. "I should, um, leave you two alone, I guess," she said hesitantly.

"We'd appreciate that," Clark said shortly.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you," she said and finally walked down the stairs.

Clark listened until he could hear her car pull away before he looked at Lois.

"That was awkward. Not to mention a bit annoying, huh?" he said, hoping to cajole her back into a good mood. He figured any more physical stuff was out of the question for the rest of the night, but he hoped to make her smile again at least.

He was unnerved when she didn't answer and just continued to stare at him intently.

"Lois? You okay?" he asked.

"You just turned down Lana Lang. For me," she said suddenly.

Clark looked at her and thought about saying 'duh!' out loud, just like he was thinking, but figured it wouldn't be a good idea. She had obviously been very weirded out by Lana's impromptu visit.

"Yeah? Because you're…kind of my girlfriend now?" he said.

"Ever since I arrived in Smallville, all I've heard about is your massive crush on Lana Lang. Chloe and I used to make jokes about it, about how you went off into your own little world when she was around."

"Yes, I remember. I also remember not being too happy about it," Clark said, wondering where in the hell she was going with this.

"So, she came over here tonight, obviously expecting to start something with you, and yet, you turned her down flat."

"Yes. That would be because I have a girlfriend now. You!" Clark said. "Or do you not recall the huge make-out session she broke up?"

"You weren't tempted? Even just a little bit?" Lois asked. "She was ripe for the picking. In fact, you could probably still catch up to her-"

"Hold on a minute! What are you saying? Is that the reason you've been so resistant to you and me? Because you think I still love Lana?" Clark asked in disbelief.

"Your feelings for her were pretty strong…" Lois said, now sounding more hesitant.

"My feelings for you are stronger! I love you, Lois! Not just like you; _not_ just attracted to you; _not_ just want to have sex with you, and believe me, I want to have sex with you so bad I think I'm going out of my mind. I _love_ you!" Clark shouted.

His heart was racing with the indignation he felt. Staring at her, his pulse pounding, his breath coming in sharp pants, Clark wasn't sure whether he wanted to smack her or kiss her.

"Oh," she said quietly, staring back at him with amazement on her face. "Oh!" she repeated. Lois smiled at him brightly, right before she jumped on him, grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him with everything she had.

Clark didn't protest and kissed her back enthusiastically, his anger diminishing rather quickly. Lois pulled away, just enough to rest her forehead against his, and Clark felt his heart leap with joy at the love shining in her eyes.

"I love you, too, Smallville. I think I fell in love with you the day I saw you standing naked in a cornfield," she said, with a laugh. "Say it again."

"I love you, Lois," he said with a smile and kissed the tip of her nose. "Am I going to have to repeat it a million times until you really believe me?"

"I believe you, but a million times would be nice just the same."

"Do you really? No more doubts?" Clark asked seriously.

"I kept waiting for you to wake up from this fantasy and go running back to Lana if she so much as wagged a finger at you. I don't know if I could have handled that, Clark," Lois said.

"It will never happen. You're the only woman for me, ever," he promised.

She got a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "Prove it to me, then, Smallville," she said.

"How?" Clark asked.

Lois leaned in and breathed on his ear. Clark shuddered in delight, then moaned as she nipped at his earlobe.

"Make love to me," she whispered directly into his ear.

Clark didn't need to be asked twice; he had his shirt off of her, and the two of them lying flat out on the couch before she could change her mind.

"Hey, we have the whole night," Lois said, laughing.

"All the more reason to get started right now. Don't wanna waste a second," Clark muttered as he leaned in and began kissing her neck.

Lois was still giggling at his eagerness, and then Clark hit a particularly sensitive spot on her neck. She moaned softly, turning her head to the side to give him easier access. He moved down to her breasts, lavishing love and attention to each of them in turn. By this time, Lois was writhing underneath him, running her hands over his back and shoulders, begging him for more.

Clark slid down lower, trailing kisses across her belly, to the button on her jeans. Grinning up at her wickedly, he slowly popped the button out of its hole, and pulled the zipper down. Their eyes were locked on each other, and Lois twisted her hips, urging him wordlessly to get them out of the way.

Clark obliged, stripping her jeans off, and running his hands over her long, smooth legs. Lois's body truly was amazing. Then he noticed her panties. They were white cotton, thong-style, and printed on the front were the words 'Ride Me Cowboy'.

He laughed and looked up to see her smirking at him.

"Gonna take me up on that offer, Cowboy?" she said, her voice dropping to a sultry tone.

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Clark said, his mouth going dry at the thought.

Impatient to be skin-to-skin with her, Clark stood up and pulled off his own jeans. Lois smiled and reached up to press her hand against the cock that was straining against his boxers.

"Mmm, looks like you're really packing, Kent. Do you mind if I take a peek?"

"Please," Clark said hoarsely.

She sat up and tugged the boxers down, pulling his cock out and stroking it several times. Clark groaned and threw his head backwards, trying hard not to come too soon. When she leaned in to take him into her mouth, Clark had to squeeze the base of his cock quickly to hold himself back.

"Lois, I need to be in you. Right now," he said, his voice ragged with desire.

"Okay, just give me a minute. I have some condoms in my purse," she said as she reached over to the floor by the end of the couch where she had tossed it much earlier.

"Why do you have condoms in your purse?" Clark asked.

"A soldier is always prepared, Smallville," she grinned. "Ah, here we go!"

She rolled the condom onto him expertly. Meanwhile, Clark was standing there trying not to whimper the whole time. She was driving him insane!

"All right," she said, smiling in satisfaction. "Now, come on, Cowboy. Show me what ya got." She whipped her panties off and lay back on the couch, inviting him to her with the crook of her finger.

Clark thought about savoring the moment a little longer, but he was far too impatient. He figured he had the rest of his life to take it slow. Carefully, he stretched out on top of her. Lois was tall, but Clark knew he was still a big guy and he didn't want to crush her. She didn't seem to mind because she immediately wrapped herself around him and kissed him deeply.

Clark's hips started moving, almost on their own. He couldn't resist the sharp jolts of pleasure he felt whenever his cock slid against her. Lois moaned and thrust up against him, and her wetness felt hot and slick. Clark couldn't wait one second more; he had to be inside her.

He raised up a little, bracing himself with one hand beside her head. He used the other to guide his cock into her warm, wet opening.

"Oh, Lois. So amazing," he whispered.

"Yes, yes, wonderful," she agreed and flexed her inner muscles around him.

Clark groaned and began thrusting into her, filling her up, pulling out almost completely, and then driving home again, over and over. The old couch was creaking madly with the force of their movements, but Clark didn't care. There was no one to hear, and they could make as much noise as they wanted to.

"Oh, God, Clark! Can feel you so deep," Lois moaned.

"Yeah, Lois, oh, love you so much," Clark gasped.

"Love you too, Smallville," Lois answered him. "Oh, sit up, I want to ride you now."

Clark was willing to do pretty much whatever she asked by now, so he shifted backwards, pulling her up with him. He sat on the couch, and she straddled him, taking his cock inside her once again.

"Yesssss," she hissed as she began to rock back and forth, up and down, taking him as deep as she could. "You're so big, Clark. Love that your cock is so huge in me."

"Oh, yeah. God, Lois, I'm gonna come in just a minute. I need to come. I can't wait any more."

"S'okay, Clark, I'm almost there, too," Lois said. She was moving faster and faster on top of him and Clark thought that his body couldn't possibly contain this much pleasure. Surely he was going to explode.

"OH! Clark, I'm so close! Touch me, please touch me," Lois gasped.

Obediently, Clark raised his hands from her hips to her breasts, rubbing his thumbs across her nipples. He was fascinated by the way she moaned and her whole body shivered.

"That's so good, but no, here, right here," Lois moaned. She took one of Clark's hands and guided it to where their bodies were joined. She showed him how to touch her just so, and Clark thought it was almost as intimate as the fact that he was buried so deep within her.

He was so turned on by watching her reactions, Clark was only able to hold off another few seconds, and then he came hard in the most intense orgasm he could ever remember having. Lois cried out and her entire body shuddered, before she collapsed on top of him. She rested her head on his shoulder, and both of them were breathing hard.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, just soaking in the delicious aftermath. Clark managed to turn his head, and kissed her gently. Lois hummed in approval, and dreamily returned the kiss. His softened cock slipped out of her and Lois lifted herself up long enough for Clark to reach in between the two of them and get rid of the condom, which he did by lazily tossing it over the back of the couch.

"I'll need to sleep for about a week now, Smallville. That was incredible," she said as she settled back onto his chest.

"Hmm, yeah, it was. But don't you need to head back to Chloe's house?" Clark asked sleepily.

"Nah. My cuz'll cover for me. I don't even want to move."

"Me neither. But if we sleep here, we have to make sure we're up before my parents get here in the morning," he said.

"No problem," she mumbled, already half asleep.

Clark chuckled at her and maneuvered the two of them to where he was lying on his back and Lois was curled up on top of him. He pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and covered them up. He knew he needed to set an alarm – he didn't wake at the crack of dawn anymore as he seemed to need more sleep without his abilities – but he drifted off in the middle of that thought.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**Happy Thanksgiving! Before I go stuff myself with turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce, here's another chapter. I'm personally thankful for all the lovely reviews y'all have given!**

* * *

"Wake up, Clark."

At first he thought he was dreaming his father's voice, but when he opened his eyes and saw Jonathan Kent glaring down at him, Clark realized it was no dream. It was more like a nightmare.

"You have some explaining to do, Son."

"Er…" Clark said, completely at a loss as to how to explain this without his dad somehow blowing his top. "What time is it?" he asked, hoping to stall.

"Probably much later than you thought it was," Jonathan said, his glare not diminishing in the slightest.

"Mmm, is it time to wake up already? I've gotta tell you, Smallville, you may not want to admit it, but you snore," Lois said, as she snuggled into his side without opening her eyes.

"Lois, you need to wake up, too," Jonathan stated.

At that, Lois's eyes snapped open and she gaped up at Clark's father. "Mr. Kent!"

"I'm going to give the two of you five minutes to get decent and get yourselves downstairs," Jonathan said, and then he turned and stalked down the steps.

Clark and Lois didn't waste any time scrambling up from the couch and throwing some clothes on. Lois was frantically trying to finger-comb her hair to get the tangles out, while Clark rubbed fruitlessly at what was probably a semen stain on the bottom of his shirt. He had no idea how that could have gotten there.

They were ready to go down when they paused and looked at each other. Even knowing how much trouble they were in, Clark couldn't help but smile at her. Lois grinned back at him, and they came together for a quick kiss.

"It was worth it," Clark said.

"You bet it was," Lois agreed. "Ready to go and face the music?"

"Yep," he said.

Clark reached out and took Lois's hand and they walked down the stairs and out of the barn. Both his parents were standing in front of the truck, gazing at them with disapproving frowns.

"At least tell me the two of you were safe," Martha said.

Clark and Lois both blushed to the roots, while Clark managed to stammer, "Yeah, Mom, of course we were."

"That's not the problem here, Martha! This should never have happened in the first place. Lois, I need to talk to my son alone, if you don't mind. There are some serious issues we need to discuss."

"If you don't mind me saying so, Mr. Kent, this is a decision that Clark and I made together, and it wasn't one that we took lightly. We've been…sort of involved since prom night, and well, we love each other. This is not a fling, if that's what you're thinking," Lois said.

Clark was so thrilled at hearing her defend their relationship that he couldn't do anything but beam at her proudly for several moments. Lois gave him a little smile and winked at him.

"Clark! As touching as that sounds, you know there are other things to be concerned about here," Jonathan said impatiently.

"Some things are not really that important anymore, Dad. Besides, both Lois and I are over eighteen and we know what we're doing," Clark said stubbornly.

Clark and Jonathan might have stood there glaring at one another for a few more hours if Chloe's car hadn't pulled up beside the truck. She bounded out of her VW and walked over with a big sunny smile on her face.

"Morning, Kents! And cousin," she said with a wink at Lois. "I thought I'd have to drag you out of bed this morning, Clark. What's going on?"

Clark grimaced at Chloe's unfortunate choice of words and he watched as she frowned at the sudden uncomfortable air surrounding them. She took a long look at Clark and Lois's disheveled state, as well as their linked hands, then gave a quick glance at the frowns on his parents' faces. Chloe quickly put two and two together.

"Ohhh," she said, her eyebrows arching in surprise. "Awkward," she muttered.

"Why are you here so early, Chloe? It's barely after 6:30," Clark asked, grateful for the distraction.

"I, uh, wanted to tell you about this strange phone call I got this morning from Gabriel Duncan," Chloe said, obviously still a little distracted by the scene she'd interrupted.

"The tech guy from the Torch?" Clark asked.

"Yeah, he said that Smallville would cease to exist in exactly…" she glanced down at her watch. "Well, now it's fifty-three minutes."

"Have you called Sheriff Adams?" Jonathan asked.

"The good sheriff and I aren't really seeing things in the same perspective at the moment, Mr. Kent," Chloe said with a wry grin.

"Do you think this Gabriel was serious?" Martha asked.

"He sounded pretty serious to me on the phone, and knowing the way things can turn crazy in this town in half a second, I'm not really willing to take the chance that he's not," Chloe said.

Jonathan sighed and glanced over at Clark. "We will finish this conversation at a later time, you two. Right now, you need to go find this Gabriel, and I'll call Sheriff Adams myself."

"Sounds like a plan. You coming, Clark?" Chloe grinned.

"Not without me, you're not," Lois said and punched Clark in the shoulder. She and Chloe shared a smirk at Clark's wince and exclamation of pain from the blow.

"The more, the merrier," Chloe said with a laugh as they moved towards her car.

Of course, they made Clark sit in the VW's almost non-existent back seat. He was folded up like an accordion, but the cousins refused to listen to his logic on why he, as the biggest of the three of them, should be sitting in the front.

"So, Lois and Clark. Who woulda ever thunk it?" Chloe said slyly.

"Oh, hush. I don't want to hear any teasing from you or I'll tell Clark all about the mushy stuff you wrote me about him when you were still a freshman," Lois said.

"That was only a crush, Lo! You wouldn't dare break the bonds of sisterhood!"

"I don't know, sounds interesting to me. What kind of stuff did she say?" Clark asked as he poked his head in between the front seats to grin at Chloe.

She took one hand off the steering wheel briefly and pushed his face back to the back seat, ignoring his laughter.

"You shut up, Kent, or I'll tell Lois about the sappy love poem I found that you wrote for Lana when you were still in middle school!" Chloe shrieked.

"We've already dealt with Lana Lang, so that's hardly a threat anymore," Lois said with a smug grin.

"Lana already knows?" Chloe asked in surprise. "Before your own family?" She gave Lois a glance full of mock-hurt.

"Well, she kinda, ah, interrupted…things," Lois said, blushing.

"Oh, my God!" Chloe said before she started laughing so hard that the car began to weave on the road a bit.

"Chloe! Watch the road!" Clark shouted.

"All right, all right, stop yelling in my ear, you big goof," Chloe said, a few giggles still escaping her. "Oh, there it is. That's Gabriel's house."

The three of them got out of the car and walked up to the porch of the house. It seemed eerily quiet to Clark, and he really missed being able to use x-ray vision at that moment. Chloe pulled out a credit card and broke in through the front door.

It didn't take long for the three of them to search the house, and they were a little freaked out by all the news clippings about meteor freaks covering the walls of one room. They were even more freaked out when they found the body of Gabriel's dad. When they realized what Mr. Duncan's job was, they got scared.

"So Mr. Duncan was the lighthouse keeper for the nuclear missile silos in Smallville. And Gabriel hated meteor mutants. Holy hells, he's planning on nuking the whole town!" Lois said.

"We don't know that for sure, Lois," Clark said.

"It's the only thing that makes sense. What else could make the whole town of Smallville 'gone forever'? That's what he said," Chloe said.

Clark's phone started buzzing in his pocket and he pulled it out to see that his dad was calling. Chloe and Lois were tossing out ideas about what they should do as Clark talked with his father.

He hung up and turned around, his face grim. "That was my dad. He talked with Sheriff Adams and Gabriel has activated one of the silos. The problem is, there's about fifteen of them around Smallville and we have no idea which one he's at."

"We're down to thirty minutes. What are we going to do? There's no way _anyone_ could search all those silos in time," Chloe said with a significant look at Clark.

He shrugged his shoulders helplessly, acknowledging that he could have at one time, but certainly not now.

"Wait a minute. Out of all the people in Smallville, Gabriel called to warn you," Clark said to Chloe.

"He's just counting on me telling his story afterwards," Chloe said.

"But that means he trusts you. Maybe we can use that so we don't have to search all the silos," Clark said.

The three of them quickly came up with a plan, which mostly involved Clark and Lois staying out of sight and Chloe calling Gabriel to get him to come to them. He and Lois watched Chloe on the phone from where they were crouched behind an abandoned tractor.

"So, is this what you and Chloe normally do when you're investigating the mysteries of Smallville?" Lois asked.

Clark turned and saw the twinkle of humor in her eyes. He grinned back at her.

"It usually goes something like this, yeah. Chloe's the brains and I'm just the muscle," he said.

Lois reached out, put her hand on his bicep and squeezed. "I kinda like that about you," she purred.

"Lois, you can't do that now."

"Why not?" she asked, with a perfectly faked innocent look on her face. She knew exactly what she was doing to him.

"You'll get me all…distracted," Clark said.

"I don't know. I sort of like you all distracted," Lois whispered. She leaned forward and put her chin on his shoulder, raising one brow at him in question.

Unable to resist, Clark shifted and gently kissed her. He completely forgot about Chloe for a few moments as he lost himself in the wonder that was kissing Lois Lane. The roar of a motorcycle brought him back to the present.

Clark pulled away from Lois reluctantly, but he was pleased to note that she seemed as affected by the kiss as he was. Her face was flushed, her eyes were hazy, and she was definitely breathing a little harder.

"You are evil," he whispered, ignoring her chuckle, before he turned his attention back to Chloe. Gabriel had indeed arrived and was getting off the motorcycle.

He watched for a minute as Chloe and Gabriel talked, saw her gesturing to the car that they'd shoved into the ditch as an explanation for why she'd called him. Deciding it was time for him to make his entrance, Clark started to stand.

"Here we go," he muttered.

Before he could fully straighten up, Lois pulled his face around for one more kiss.

"Be careful, Clark," she said quietly.

"I will be," he said with a soft smile. "You stay here. We don't want to spook him too much."

He stepped out from behind the tractor and took a few steps into the road.

"Gabriel! Which silo did you activate?"

Gabriel glared at him, and Clark was taken aback at the coldness in his eyes. He'd remembered Gabriel as being the quiet sort, but he'd always seemed nice and eager to help.

"I know Smallville has its problems, but killing innocent people is not the answer," Clark said. Gabriel looked at Chloe, and Clark heard him murmur something about trust.

He was pondering whether he should tackle Gabriel and see if he could make him confess which silo was active, when the boy turned back around. Gabriel pulled a gun out of his waistband and fired without another word.

The bullet slammed into Clark's lower chest, causing him to stagger back a step. Immediately, he heard both Chloe and Lois screaming his name. He could see Chloe trying to get to him, but Gabriel blocked her, pushing her back towards his motorcycle.

_He's kidnapping Chloe…I should stop him_, Clark thought, but things began to get fuzzy. He fell to his knees, bringing both his hands up to touch the wound, as he stared down at the hole in his chest in confusion. He coughed and blood streamed out of his mouth, horrifying him with its bitter taste.

Clark felt himself starting to keel over, and then hands grabbed at his shoulders, trying to keep him up. He looked up to see Lois with tears pouring down her cheeks, terror flickering in her eyes. She was crying, screaming at him, and pulling on him, all at the same time.

He wasn't sure what she was trying to accomplish, but all of a sudden, Clark was so tired. If he could just lie down, just for a moment, he thought that he might feel better. Lois couldn't hold him, and he felt her hands slip off his arm as he fell backwards to the pavement.

_The sky is such a pretty blue. Gabriel's going to mess that all up. I still have to stop him,_ Clark thought as he stared straight up. He felt someone touching the bullet hole, applying pressure, and he grunted a little because, wow, that really hurt. Looking over at Lois, he saw that she had one hand on him and had her phone in the other, screaming at someone to get to Route 87 immediately. She was yelling that it was an emergency, and she needed help _now_.

Clark wanted to reassure her that he would be all right, even though he really wasn't sure at all that he would be. He hated to see Lois so upset. He tried to speak her name, but all he could manage was a garbled mumble. She looked down at him, and he heard her say 'hold on, Clark, hold on'.

Then everything went dark.

* * *

He became aware again for just a few moments in the hospital corridor. The stretcher that he was lying on careened through the hallways. Hands poked at him, pulling his shirt off and applying more pressure to the wound, which still really hurt.

Clark thought he caught a glimpse of his mother and father, and he was ashamed that they had to see him like this. He knew a quick moment of sorrow at all the trouble he'd caused them over the years. Then someone put a mask over his face, and it all went black once again.

The next time Clark woke up, he felt soft hands touching his face, and someone was speaking softly to him. He tried to focus in on the words.

"…moment I saw you, I knew you were something special, Smallville. But you know how stubborn I am. I didn't want to admit that I liked you, especially not to you! Thank goodness you were even more stubborn, huh? The last couple of months have been the most amazing ride of my life, Clark. You have to hurry up and get better so we can keep that ride going. You wouldn't want to disappoint me, would you? After all the hard work you put in getting me to change my mind?"

He heard her chuckle, but Clark could tell that she was crying at the same time. The last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt or disappoint Lois. He struggled to open his eyes, so he could look at her and tell her so.

It felt like they were glued shut, but Clark finally managed to force his eyes open. Lois _was_ crying, and he felt guilty because she'd once told him proudly that she hadn't cried since her mother's funeral. Clark hadn't been sure that was anything to be proud of, but it was so typical of Lois, trying to put on a brave front for the world.

Lois smiled when she saw him looking back at her, and he wanted to tell her that it would be all right. Before he could open his mouth, it felt as though every bit of strength in his body was sucked right out of him, and he sagged back against the bed, his eyes closing again. The room filled with the sounds of beeping monitors and alarms, and Clark wished they would stop. It was too loud and suddenly, _everything_ hurt.

He heard other people coming into the room, and then he was being poked and prodded at again. It annoyed him because all Clark wanted to do was rest. If they would just leave him alone and let him rest, he would be fine.

A jolt of something sizzled through his body, causing him to jerk upwards. He cursed these idiots in his head. Couldn't they tell they were hurting him? He just wanted to get away! There was a light in the distance, growing steadily brighter as Clark stared at it, and he noticed that the closer he got to it, the less the actions of the hospital staff hurt. They jolted him again and Clark surged towards the light, desperate to get away from the pain they were causing.

The light was so close now that he could feel the warmth of it shimmering over his skin. He hesitated for just a moment, as it suddenly struck him that he would be leaving Lois, and his parents. Forever. Clark half-turned, thinking that maybe he should go back and fight to stay.

But he'd gotten too close, and the light pulled him in.

* * *

Standing in the middle of the Fortress, Clark gasped as he turned around in surprise. He had no idea what had happened. Maybe this was the Kryptonian version of heaven? Glancing down at his body, Clark saw that his clothes were clean and there was no pain anymore, so no wound either?

Before he could check, he heard someone speak.

"Kal-El, I am pleased that you are all right."

Clark squinted at the figure standing at the other side of the Fortress. It looked like…Lionel Luthor? What the hell was going on?

"How do you know that name?" Clark asked.

"You are my son."

"Jor-El? But how…" Clark said. He was so confused, that he didn't even know what to ask.

Lionel/Jor-El walked slowly towards Clark. "When this body was activated by contact with the last of the stones, it became an oracle of Kryptonian knowledge. A vessel that I could inhabit to help you if you should need me."

"I don't understand. I was just at the hospital. I…I think I died. Am I dead?" Clark asked fearfully.

"Your mortal journey is over, yes, but your destiny is too important. You will be granted the return of your natural gifts. This does not come without a price, however. The life of someone you love will be exchanged for your own."

"What? No, I don't want that, I would never want that!"

By this time, Lionel/Jor-El was right in front of Clark, and he could see the strange light shining out of Lionel's eyes, a definite unearthly gleam that could only be Jor-El.

"You disobeyed me, Kal-El, and I warned you that there would be consequences."

"Just don't bring me back, then! I don't want anyone to die for me!"

"The universe demands balance, Kal-El. This world still needs you and your abilities. Are you willing to turn your back on them for one simple life?"

"Yes, if I have to! I can't bear the thought of mom or dad, or Lois…" He shuddered at the thought of any of his friends or family paying the price for his own foolishness.

He grasped desperately for anything that might make Jor-El change his mind. Clark sensed that Jor-El was extremely angry at his son for not listening to him earlier, and this 'life for a life' was nothing more than a vindictive punishment. What could he offer that might appease his father?

"Wait! What if I agreed to the training? I will come here and stay as long as you need me to and I won't leave until we're finished, I promise."

Jor-El paused, looking at his son thoughtfully. "You would stay the entire time I need you to? Even if it required several of your Earth years?"

Clark swallowed nervously at the thought of being away from his family for what might be years, but he could bear it if they would all be alive and waiting for him when he got back.

"Yes."

"Hmm. Interesting," Jor-El mused. "Very well. I will allow you to return to your home for one week to bid farewell. You will be back here on time."

Jor-El didn't give any threats as to what would happen if he wasn't here, but Clark wasn't going to take any chances. He would return as ordered.

"Remember that I love you always, my son," Jor-El said.

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Clark. There was a hum of energy and Clark felt it shimmer over his body and deep into his skin. He took a deep breath, feeling the return of his abilities like regaining the use of a lost limb. Clark hadn't realized that he'd missed his powers until that moment. As much as he sometimes wished he could be normal, his gifts were a part of him that could not be denied.

Clark sped along the back roads of Smallville after coming out of the Kawatche caves. The nuclear missile was just cresting over the tree line, and Clark changed direction to head towards where it had originated. Once there, he could see that it was already almost a couple of miles up. He crouched, gathering all his energy as he knew this would be the biggest leap he'd ever made. That flying thing would certainly come in handy right about now.

He pushed off as hard as he could and caught the last few feet of the missile, jamming his hand into the metal itself so that he could hold on. Clark spared one glance backwards at the ground rapidly getting further away, before concentrating on moving upwards. Using his fingers as pitons, Clark slowly made his way to the top of the missile, moving a little faster when pieces of the missile began to break away as it made its ascent.

The air was becoming thin, so Clark took a deep breath and held it. He had discovered some time ago that he could hold his breath for a couple of hours before he needed to breathe. Clark quickly x-rayed the cone of the missile, looking for the warhead. He ripped part of the covering off and pulled the warhead out. He threw it as hard as he could away from Earth's atmosphere and winced when it exploded. Clark didn't want to think about the damage that could have done to Smallville.

The ordeal left him exhausted, and Clark didn't let go of the cone as it fell back to Earth. He just hung on for the ride. When it finally crashed, Clark stood up and shook off the dirt. His clothes were in tatters from re-entering the atmosphere, but he didn't care. Right now, he just needed to get back home as quickly as he could. Clark glanced around, trying to get his bearings. He listened for a moment. As near as he could figure, he was somewhere in Wyoming, so Smallville should be southeast.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**Well, this is it! The last chapter of this little story! I thank you all for taking the ride with me, and I hope you enjoy the conclusion.**

* * *

The sight of the familiar yellow farmhouse was like a balm to his soul. To be truly _home_ when he'd thought he might never see it again, was such a relief that Clark had to stop and stare at the house for a few minutes. He tuned in his hearing, and heard his father on the phone.

"Look, the hospital lost our son! I wouldn't be calling the sheriff's office if I didn't think it was necessary," his dad was yelling.

It had to have been a horrifying experience for his parents. They'd no doubt been told their son had died, then to have his body disappear; it must have been like something out of their worst nightmares, Clark imagined. He sped up to the door and heard his mother gasp as she caught sight of him.

"I'll call you back," Jonathan said and abruptly hung up the phone, staring at Clark in astonishment as he stepped into the kitchen.

Martha was the first to move. She leaped forward to hurl herself into his arms. She squeezed him tight enough for even Clark to feel it. When she reluctantly let him go, Jonathan took her place, hugging his son just as fiercely.

"They told us you were dead," Jonathan said hoarsely.

"I kinda was, Dad," Clark said quietly.

Martha made a sound of distress and couldn't seem to stop herself from touching him, her fingers stroking his arm continuously.

"It was Jor-El, wasn't it? He gave you your powers back," Martha said.

"Yeah," Clark nodded.

"We heard the missile malfunctioned. That was you? You stopped it?" Jonathan asked.

Clark nodded again. He was terrified of telling them about the deal he'd made with Jor-El. Clark knew he should do so immediately, but he couldn't, not so soon. Maybe he could put it off for a couple of days.

"And Jor-El just agreed to give you your powers back? He didn't ask for anything in return?" Jonathan said skeptically.

Damn, his adoptive father knew his biological father just a little too well. Clark supposed it came from experience, after the deal that Jonathan had made with Jor-El to get Clark back from Metropolis and away from red-K had such dire consequences for the Kent family. Jonathan's heart hadn't been the same since.

"He didn't ask for anything, but I did offer him something. I'm going to him for the training he wants me to do."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Martha asked doubtfully.

"I have to, Mom, otherwise… Well, I just have to," Clark said, not wanting to scare his parents with Jor-El's original threat.

"How long would you be gone?" Jonathan said, shooting straight to the heart of the matter.

"I don't know. It could be years," Clark admitted.

"No!" Martha protested. Jonathan's mouth thinned into a grim line.

"I know it sounds awful, Mom, but believe me, this is something that I have to do. I need to learn more about who I am, and Jor-El is the only one who can show me that."

Before his parents could voice any more objections, there was a soft knock at the front door. All three of them looked towards the sound.

"Mr. and Mrs. Kent?" Lois's voice, sounding sad and lost, floated through to the kitchen.

Clark turned back to his dad at hearing her distress.

"Dad, she's the one. I have to tell her everything," he said.

"I know, Clark," Jonathan said with a sigh. He nodded his head towards the front door, giving Clark the okay.

When he stepped around the corner and into the hallway, Lois looked up and saw him. Clark drank in the sight of her. Lois's presence filled an empty space in his heart that had grown since he'd thought he would never see her again.

"Clark," she whispered, and the teary glow in her eyes told him that she'd thought him lost to her forever as well.

Clark took a step forward, meaning to go to her, but Lois practically flew up the hallway and into his arms. She clung to him, burying her face in his hair and he could feel her tears falling onto his neck.

Words seemed unnecessary as they held each other, and Clark wished that they could stay like this forever.

He knew that was impossible.

His parents were kind enough to give Lois and Clark the space to talk and quietly stayed in the house while they went up to the loft. Clark couldn't really think of this place as his Fortress of _Solitude_ anymore, not with most of the pivotal moments of his and Lois's relationship happening here.

Chloe had called right before they left the house and he was relieved to know that she was all right, although he was worried about her when he found out that Gabriel had been killed while they were fighting over the gun he'd stolen from his father. She told him she was fine, and then Lois and Chloe talked for a moment, each cousin glad to know that the other was okay.

"I have so much to tell you that I don't even know where to start," Clark said, once they were seated on the couch.

Lois reached over and took his hand.

"Why don't you start with this miracle today? I watched you die, Clark. How did you come back?"

"I'm sorry," Clark whispered, apologizing for at least the fifth time. "I hate that everyone had to go through that."

"I'm just glad you're still here," she reassured him, giving his hand a squeeze.

"I guess I should start with the meteor shower. The first one, I mean," Clark began and then told her everything. Lois didn't interrupt as he talked, and Clark wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

He got all the way to the part where he'd destroyed the missile before he stopped talking. Clark felt as though he'd just unburdened his entire soul to Lois. In a way, he supposed that was true. He waited anxiously for her to say something. She had listened intently to the entire speech, her attention never wavering for a second. He'd left out the part about leaving for Jor-El's training, figuring he'd better see how she responded to everything else first.

"So you can see through things, run really fast, set things on fire with your eyes, and you're indestructible," Lois said slowly, raising one eyebrow in question that she was getting it all correct so far.

"Yes," Clark said.

"But you can't fly?"

"Um, no. Not so far. I've floated a few times, but I really can't control it," he said sheepishly.

"Well, you need to get on that, Smallville. I expect to be taken for one helluva ride once you get it down pat," she said with a grin.

Clark laughed in relief as she moved over to straddle his lap and leaned down to kiss him. The kissing began to get a little heated and Clark knew he had to slow it down, so he could tell her the rest.

"Lois," he said, trying to pull away a bit.

"Done with talking. Now it's time for kissing," she murmured and kissed him again.

Clark was absolutely enjoying the make-out session, but he had to get the bad news out there before she completely made him change his mind and break his promise to Jor-El.

"Lois, there's one more thing, and it's pretty important," Clark managed to say, even though he really wanted nothing more than to surrender to her kisses.

Lois sat back and stared at him in bafflement. "You just told me you're an alien from another planet. What else could there possibly be?"

"I have to go away," he said quickly before he could lose his nerve.

"For how long," she asked, her tone flat.

"I don't know. It, well, it could be years," he said. His voice dropped to a whisper by the last word.

She jumped off his lap and glared at him in disbelief. "Years? Years, Clark? What the hell?"

He stood up and tried to explain. "I have to go through training with my Kryptonian father. He's been trying to get me to do this for a couple of years now, and I just really have to go this time."

"Why now? I…I just got you back, Clark. From being _dead_! Why do you have to leave now?"

Clark hadn't told his parents the whole truth, but as the woman he was going to spend forever with, he felt like he owed it to Lois. Plus, he wasn't altogether sure she'd let him leave without a very good reason.

"When Jor-El healed me and gave me my powers back, he said there had to be a balance. He said that the life force he gave me would have to be taken from someone I love. I offered to go through with the training instead and thankfully, that was enough for him. Otherwise, it could have been one of my parents, you, Chloe or Lex…"

"No great loss there," Lois muttered.

"Lois," Clark said warningly.

"Sorry," she said, although he didn't believe she really was.

"I could never have accepted any one of you being sacrificed so that I could live. I just couldn't let that happen. Can you understand?"

"I do," she said with a sigh. "You wouldn't be, well, _you_ if you were okay with that."

He reached out and wrapped his arms around her to pull her into a close embrace. "I promise you that I will come back as soon as I can. And I know that I really have no right to ask this of you, but…will you wait for me?"

"Smallville, I love you more than anything. I'll wait forever if you want me to," she said with a smile.

Clark grinned and kissed her soundly. When their lips finally separated, both of them were breathing heavily.

"Mostly because I'm sure your daddy dearest will teach you to fly, and I expect to be the first one you take for a special flight," Lois smirked.

"You'll always be first with me, Lois," Clark said with a soft smile.

* * *

Clark used the week Jor-El had given him to help rebuild the farmhouse and to say his good-byes to his friends and family. Also, he and Lois had copious amounts of sex. Jonathan wasn't happy about it, but to his credit, he didn't say anything. After all, none of them had any idea how long it would be before Clark would be seeing any of them again.

It was Chloe's idea for all of them – Jonathan, Martha, Lois, Lex and Chloe – to go with him to the Kawatche caves to see him off. Clark had protested at first, thinking that it would be too difficult for all of them, but they convinced him that it was what they wanted to do.

When the day came, Clark felt like a soldier going off to war, only he had no luggage, there would be no one with him, and he didn't have a clue as to when the war would be over.

Clark looked at his parents and tried to memorize their face. He hoped that it wouldn't be too long before he could see them again.

"Thank you guys for finding me in that field and taking me home," he said.

His mom was crying and she hugged him hard. Clark had to laugh when she whispered 'be careful' in his ear. She had always been a worrier. He then hugged his father and laughed at his warning.

"You take everything Jor-El says with a grain of salt, you hear? You know how he can twist things around."

Clark promised that he would and then stepped over to Chloe. She was trying valiantly not to cry but was not succeeding.

"Well, superhero, you better learn a lot, cause you'll have to teach everything to your sidekick when you get back, you know," she said.

"Chloe, you've always been the one teaching me what I need to know. I don't see that changing even after I come back," Clark said as he hugged his friend. He leaned down and whispered, loudly enough for Lex to hear, "Make sure you keep Lex out of trouble, okay?"

Chloe laughed and said that she would even as Lex protested with an offended denial that it was never _him_ that got into trouble.

Clark moved on to Lex, as he muttered, "Why do I suddenly feel like Dorothy in _The Wizard of Oz_?"

"Does that mean you'll miss me most of all?" Lex said with a smirk.

"No, I'll miss your Ferrari most of all. God, I love that car," Clark said with a fake sigh.

"Jerk," Lex said and pulled Clark into a rough hug, complete with manly slaps on the back. "Don't be gone too long, all right?"

"I'll try not to. Meanwhile, your job is to keep Chloe out of trouble," Clark said and ducked out of the way of Chloe's purse as she aimed it for his head.

With that, he turned to Lois.

"I can't look at you," he said, anguished. "If I look at you too long, I'm never going to be able to leave you."

Lois stepped forward and took his face in her hands. "You'll find the strength to do what you need to do because you've always been the strongest man I've ever known. And I don't mean the fact that you can bench press a tractor."

Clark felt tears gathering in his eyes. This really was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. Right now, he seriously doubted that he could just walk away from her. She kissed him, and Clark returned it intensely, trying to let her know without words how much he loved her. When the kiss broke, Clark realized he was crying harder than he ever had in his life.

"Please don't give up on me. Knowing that you're waiting is the only thing that's going to get me through this," he whispered, meeting her eyes.

"Never. I will never give up on you. I promise from the bottom of my heart," she whispered back with a tremulous smile.

"Clark, it's time," his father said with a gentle hand on his back.

"Right. I know, I know," Clark muttered and stepped away from Lois, wiping his hands over his face.

He took one last long look at his friends. No, his _family_! All of them were his family and Clark was going to miss them so much. He wanted to kiss Lois one more time, but he didn't dare because he would not be able to let go, he knew it. At least they would all have each other. Clark let himself be comforted by that fact.

Clark took a few steps backwards towards the entrance to the cave, lifting one hand to wave awkwardly. All of them waved back, with tears on their faces. He made himself turn away and walked into the caves.

He was already counting the minutes until he could come back home.

THE END

Epilogue still to come...


	11. Epilogue

**Here's the ending to the story, and the only part of it not told from Clark's POV. Time to look in on Lois's head for a bit! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review. I really, truly appreciate it!

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EPILOGUE

**Four Years Later**

Lois Lane had worked hard to get where she was. Well, she hadn't actually intended to be where she was _right now_, which was hanging onto a flagpole on the side of a building twenty stories above a gruesome death.

"Oh, Lois, how do you get yourself into these messes?" she gasped, trying to tighten her fingers around the bar. Her palms were becoming slippery with sweat and she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold on.

This was _not_ how she'd envisioned her day going when she arrived at the _Daily Planet_ this morning. She was almost ready to send her exposé on DA Sacks to her editor when the news came through that he was doing a press conference nearby. Lois had been unable to resist the possibility that she might uncover more incriminating evidence against him.

The DA was not pleased to see her in the audience, and he was even less happy at her pointed questions about his shady connections to organized crime. She must have hit a nerve, though, because as she'd been heading back to the paper to add to her article, a couple of burly thugs had grabbed her and herded her into a nearby building.

Lois had fought, but the two of them were like charging bulls as they shoved her out onto the roof. Even then, she'd never really thought that the District Attorney would have her thrown over the side of a skyscraper.

Somehow, she'd managed to grab onto the flagpole, but when Sacks saw that, he'd just laughed, taunting her about how long she thought she could hold on. Then he left. Lois had never felt more alone in her life. Her cell phone was in her pocket, but she really didn't think she'd be able to hold onto the pole with only one hand long enough to reach it.

Maybe if she screamed loudly enough, someone would hear and call the fire department. Hopefully, they'd at least be able to make her body look good for the funeral.

"Help! Somebody help me!" she screamed, as loudly as she could. Chancing a glance down, she saw people moving like ants on the sidewalk far below, but none of them looked up.

She wasn't scared of dying; Lois had never been one to fear her own mortality. There were just so many things left that she wanted to _do_. Worst of all, she would be breaking her promise to Clark.

Thinking of the man she loved gave Lois a little strength, and she wondered if perhaps he would be able to hear her if she screamed for him. No, he was all the way in the Arctic, and that had to be too far for even him to hear.

Lois thought of the small collection of postcards she had hidden in a box under her bed. Clark had apparently been allowed out of the Fortress for outside training a few times over the last four years, and he would always take a moment to send her a postcard from wherever he was. She had one from China, Australia, Mexico, Russia, and Alaska. Clark was turning out to be almost as much of a world traveler as Lois had been when she was still living with the General.

She thought about her father, her sister, and her cousin, all of whom would be saddened by her death. Lois hoped that her editor would find the article on Sacks and run it anyway, so at least she wouldn't have died for nothing. Lois thought about Lex Luthor, a man she'd once despised but with whom she had managed to make peace for Clark's sake. She hoped that Lex used some of those sources he had that were still a little shady to find out who did this and make them pay.

She thought about the Kents, who were her second family. She knew that they would probably be the ones tasked with telling Clark. Lois hated that she would have to put any of them through this pain.

Lois didn't know how long she'd been hanging there, but she could feel her fingers losing strength. She tried, but she just couldn't hang on any longer.

"I love you, Clark!" she shouted as her fingers slipped off the pole and she plummeted towards the ground. She prayed that she would at least pass out before she hit.

Two strong arms wrapped around her waist, stopping her fall, and Lois gasped as she opened her eyes. She looked straight into familiar blue eyes, and even though his hair was slicked back all funny, she would have known him anywhere.

"Clark?" she whispered.

"I love you, too, Lois," he said as he grinned at her, and then she realized they were hovering in mid-air! About the time that thought ran through her mind, they started rising slowly upwards, back to the roof of the building.

"You're flying," she said, still in a daze.

"Yep, and just like I promised, you're my first passenger."

"You're really here," she said and threw her arms around his neck, squeezing for all she was worth.

"I would've been here as soon as I heard you screaming, but I'm still figuring out how fast I can go, and it took me a few minutes to get here from the Arctic."

They landed gently on the roof she'd been tossed over earlier. Clark kept his hands on her waist which Lois was grateful for as she was still just a little unsteady on her feet.

Lois ran her hands over the slick material covering his shoulders, and pulled back to get a better look at him. He was wearing spandex! Not just that, but vivid blue spandex with red boots…and a cape!

"Clark, what on earth are you wearing?" she asked.

"It's not from Earth. It's traditional Kryptonian clothing," Clark said, grimacing in embarrassment. "Jor-El kind of insisted," he muttered.

"Oh! Sacks and his goons! We need to call the cops before they get too far away," Lois exclaimed.

"I don't think they're going anywhere for a while," Clark said with a grin, as he nodded with his head towards a corner of the rooftop.

Lois looked over and saw Sacks and both of his thugs sitting on the ground, unconscious, with a length of metal pipe wrapped around them, securing them to the building.

"You did that before you came and grabbed me out of the air?" she said in astonishment.

"I wanted to make sure they didn't get away with doing that to you."

Lois smiled at him, and said, "I can't believe you're here. You're really here."

"I can't believe I've been here five minutes already, and you haven't kissed me yet," Clark said.

"Pardon me. I've had a bit of a shock here! I nearly died and then you flew, and you're back, and I've missed you. I tried to be strong, but there were weak moments, when I thought you were never coming back, and if you were gone forever, I didn't know what I was going to do, because I-"

Lois's babble was cut off by Clark's mouth covering hers in the most wonderful kiss she'd ever had in her life. It beat the one right before he left by a million miles, because he was finally _home_.

The kiss slowly ended, but Clark only pulled back far enough so that their noses were still touching.

"-love you," Lois said, finishing her thought.

"I love you, too, Lois," he whispered. "Now, are you ready to help me make my superhero debut?"

"Absolutely," she said with a brilliant smile.

Clark scooped her up into his arms, and they floated up once again. As they moved steadily through the air and over the edge of the building, Clark said, "The only thing is, I don't really have a name yet. I was thinking that I could just go by Kal-El, but there might be some people who would make the connection to Clark Kent."

"Oh, Lex, Chloe and I have already picked your name, Smallville. No worries there."

"Really. I'm scared to think what the three of you together might have come up with."

"It's perfect! We gave it a lot of thought, I'll have you know. You're going to be Superman."

"Superman!" Clark choked. "Isn't that a bit, er, presumptuous?"

"No, I told you, it's perfect. It still has 'man' in it so people won't be too put off by your, ah, differences. But you're obviously a little more than a regular man, hence the 'super' part."

"I don't know…" Clark said doubtfully. He glanced down towards the crowd. People pointed and cameras flashed as they were spotted gliding downwards.

"Trust me, Clark," Lois said, giving him a tender smile.

"You know I do, Lois," he replied and smiled back at her.

"I hope you're ready for your close-up, then, _Superman_," she said, deliberately stressing the new moniker.

"As long as I have you with me, Lois, I'm ready for anything."

~END~


End file.
